Meningitis: WHO Project Announces Vaccine Breakthrough
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Source: http://www.unwire.org/
The Meningitis Vaccine Project said yesterday that its meningitis A
candidate vaccine has been deemed by an expert panel to have a good
chance of providing long-term immunity against meningitis A and of
conferring "herd immunity," a reduction in transmission of the dis-
ease in the population at risk -- two improvements over the common
existing vaccines against meningitis A, the strain that plagues Af-
rica's vast meningitis belt.
The project said it has reached agreements with SynCo Bio Partners,
BiosYnth and the Serum Institute of India to develop and test the
vaccine and to ensure that its price remains "well under $1 per
dose." Project head Marc LaForce said clinical trials could begin as
soon as next year and the vaccine "could be ready for wide use in
sub-Saharan Africa within the next four to five years."
With antibiotic treatment, meningitis kills at least 10 percent of
those who contract it, and another 10-20 percent are left with perma-
nent effects such as mental retardation, deafness and epilepsy. Men-
ingitis A threatens about 250 million people in the African meningi-
tis belt, which stretches from Ethiopia to Senegal.
The vaccine project, an initiative of the World Health Organization
and the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, was joined by
the British National Institute for Biological Standards and Control
in assembling the expert panel (Meningitis Vaccine Project release,
March 18).
The WHO said last week that Niger had reported at least 2,056 menin-
gitis cases, including 195 deaths, and that epidemic level had been
reached in three districts in the country as of March 9. Four other
districts were in alert phase, and a mass vaccination campaign was
under way (Integrated Regional Information Networks, March 14).
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