You are:

Hope for a meningitis B vaccine

18 January 2012
Hope for a meningitis B vaccine

A new vaccine has demonstrated nearly 100% effectiveness in preventing meningitis B in adolescents according to a study published in the Lancet. The vaccine which has already demonstrated effectiveness in babies was tested on 1,631 adolescents. The meningitis B strain is responsible for nearly 2000 cases of meningitis a year in the UK and whilst vaccines are already available for other strains of the disease meningitis B has proved an elusive target. The makers of the vaccine have applied for European regulatory approval which is due this year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-16613608

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/health/news/article3290046.ece (subscription required)

 

 

Our media policy

This is the era of applied microbiology with stories every day in the media about avian flu, MRSA, C. difficile and MMR to name just a few. A measure of the respect that SfAM's Communication team has gained is that journalists contact us for background briefing and explanation as well as the names of microbiologists they can contact.

We will:

always do our best to provide facts, information and explanation

if speculation is required, explain the rationale behind that speculation

desist from hyping a story - whether it is the journalist or the scientist doing the hyping