Lewis First, M.D., chief of pediatrics at the University of Vermont Children’s Hospital and professor and chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, discusses the meningococcus vaccine in an article in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise on the importance of preventing meningitis.
Parents of college-bound teens have been asking pointed questions about the vaccine that more colleges are recommending to prevent meningitis in freshmen. The vaccine prevents infection from a very serious type of bacteria called meningococcus that can cause a life-threatening blood infection or result in meningitis, which is an infection of the fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord.
Meningococcus is spread by close or direct contact from the nose and throat by kissing, sharing silverware or glasses, or through a cough.
Studies now indicate that infants under age one and teens and young adults between 15–21—especially those who will be living in close quarters with other teens, such as a school dormitory—are at increased risk of getting this infection. If an infection does occur, 1 in 10 people who get it will die even with antibiotics that are designed to treat it or will experience terrible complications that can include brain damage or loss of an arm or leg.
There is a meningococcal vaccine that can prevent four of the five most common strains of this bacteria or at least two-thirds to three-quarters of all cases from infecting your child and, in doing so, significantly reduce the risk of their getting infected. And a vaccine to treat the fifth strain is now available.
Your child’s health care professional can determine the appropriate vaccine or vaccines needed and when doses should be given to protect your child or teen from meningococcal disease.