Vaccination against meningococcal meningitis outside the meningitis belt.

摘要

Talha Burki's Newsdesk item discussed the possibility of elimination of meningococcal outbreaks from the African meningitis belt. The new MenAfriVac polysaccharide-protein conjugate vaccine could be of benefit not only to Africa but also to Asia. Throughout December, 1983, and January, 1984, three times as many cases of meningococcal meningitis occurred in Kathmandu, Nepal, compared with, the same months in 1982; a mass vaccination campaign was subsequently started on Feb 8, 1984. Residents of Kathmandu valley aged 1-24 years were given the bivalent A/C meningococcal vaccine, with roughly 64% coverage of the target population. A substantial decrease in the number of meningitis cases occurred coincident with the initiation of the mass vaccination campaign.