05/24/2002 By Harvey McConnell
Introduction of meningococcal serogroup C conjugate (MCC) vaccines in England, Scotland and Wales appears to have reduced carriage of serogroup C meningococci among 15 to 17 year-olds by 66 percent in one-year.
MCC vaccination was started in November 1999. Children 18 years and younger were offered immunisation in response to increasing rates of serogroup C meningococcal disease. Researchers with the United Kingdom Meningococcal Carriage Group say without effective vaccines, meningococcal disease remains a substantial threat worldwide.
Most cases in Europe, North America and Australasia are found among young children and adolescents. Serogroup B and C meningococci cause most of such cases. Meningococci are frequently carried without symptoms among young adults. More than 70 percent of 14 million in the under-18 year age group in the United Kingdom had been immunised with MCC vaccines by November 2000.
Investigators from the University of Oxford and Gloucester Royal Hospital did three yearly
cross-sectional surveys of meningococcal carriage.
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