Menginitis cases drop after vaccine

PITTSBURGH, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Researchers say a pediatric vaccine has been effective in reducing the rate of pneumococcal meningitis in the United States.

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, said the vaccine prevents several common types of meningitis and has helped reduce the rate of another strain of meningitis that affects children and adults.

The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine said a review of 1,379 cases of pneumococcal meningitis from 1998 through 2005 shows rates of the disease decreased in children and adults after the introduction of pediatric pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) in 2000.

After PCV7 was made available, the incidence of meningitis decreased by 64 percent in children and by 54 percent in older adults.

"When you immunize children, they are much less likely to carry pneumococcal strains covered by the vaccine in the back of the throat," lead author Dr. Lee Harrison said in a release. "When vaccinated children don't carry these virulent strains, they don't end up transmitting them to other children, their parents and grandparents."