Researchers are developing a jab to protect against fatal meningitis B. There are thousands of new cases of meningitis B every year all over the world. Meningitis B is particularly dangerous for children, and about one in ten victims die from the disease and remaining fifteen percent are left with permanent disabilities.
Often limbs of the victim have to be amputated because of blood poisoning. Meningitis B causes inflammation of the membranes enclosing the brain and the spinal cord. Symptoms of the condition may include severe headache, rash, vomiting, stiff neck and sensitivity to light. Bothe meningitis B and C are occurred because of meningitis bacteria.
Further more frequent types of the illness are caused by viruses. These tend to be less severe and often mistaken for flu. Now researchers from University of Western Australia have arisen with a jab that could be available for extensive use within five years.
The trails of new jab, involving more than five hundred teenagers have shown that more than eighty percent of victims were completely protected against the disease. The study subjects were given three doses of the vaccine for the period of six months. Then subjects were assessed if their immune system was capable to fight the meningitis bacteria.
Study leader Prof Peter Richmond, stated it is really important that they protect against this disease. It is so hard to recognize early on and then it progresses so rapidly, it is a matter of hours. The study findings are published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal. Presently, there is a jab for meningitis C.
Meanwhile, another drugs giant, Novartis, may be even closer to produce a vaccine for meningitis B. It has already applied to the European drugs regulatory body for a license for its jab following successful results before this year. If approved, the vaccine would likely be given to babies from the age of two months with a booster every year.