A cheap meningitis vaccine designed to treat a type of the disease
common in Africa was ruled safe to use after several days without refrigeration
on Wednesday, allowing health workers to get it to people in more remote parts.
Epidemics of meningitis A occur every seven to 14 years in Africa's
"meningitis belt", a band of 26 countries stretching from Senegal to
Ethiopia, and are particularly devastating to children and young adults.
Child receives a meningitis vaccination at the community center in Al Neem camp for Internally Displaced People in El Daein (Handout . Reuters, REUTERS / October 12, 2012)
The World Health Organisation (WHO) ruling, that vaccine MenAfriVac is
safe to use for up to four days at up to 40 degrees Celsius, will save money
spent on expensive "cold chain" systems in the final miles of
delivery, said Orin Levine, director of vaccine delivery at the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation, which helped fund the vaccine's development.
Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP) and WHO experts said in 2011 that
introducing MenAfriVac in seven highly endemic African countries could save up
to $300 million over a decade and prevent a million cases of disease. The
ruling comes after a review by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI)
supported by analysis from Health Canada and confirmed by the WHO Vaccines
Pre-qualification Programme. Bacterial meningitis, called meningococcal
meningitis, is a serious infection of the thin lining surrounding the brain and
spinal cord. It can cause severe brain damage and is fatal in 50 percent of
cases if untreated.
Studies presented along with the WHO ruling at an American Society of
Tropical Medicine and Hygiene conference in Atlanta showed that the vaccine, which
costs just 50 cents a dose and is made by the Indian generic drugmaker Serum
Institute, is already having a big impact, eliminating meningitis A in the
first countries where it was introduced. Researchers writing in the journal
Clinical Infectious Diseases said that in Burkina Faso, where the vaccine was
introduced in 2010, swabs taken from the throats of thousands of residents
before and after its introduction showed infections with the bacteria causing
meningitis A had been eliminated in both vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
Marie-Pierre Prezioso, an MVP director who led the study, said the
findings showed that a phenomenon known as 'herd immunity' was being achieved. "From
early evidence ... we can say the signs are very promising," she said in a
statement. "We have herd immunity ... and we can also show that after
introduction in Burkina Faso, we saw the lowest level of epidemic meningitis in
15 years."
Source: Chicago Tribune
Please share
No comments:
Post a Comment