Published 11 August 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a1139
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a1139

Letters

Seroprotection and meningitis C

Meningococcal C booster not recommended by evidence

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Snape et al recommend that a booster dose of meningococcal group C glycoconjugate vaccine (MenC) be administered to children entering adolescence in the UK in the next five years.1 However, their study did not look for, or provide, any evidence of increasing nasopharyngeal carriage in pre-adolescents, and underestimates the protective effect of herd immunity on those vaccinated in early childhood between 2000 and 2005 who may have lower levels of seroprotection.

MenC vaccination reduces the prevalence of nasopharyngeal carriage of serogroup C meningococci,2 as well as disease incidence in the unvaccinated population.3 Post-licensure surveillance of meningococcal group C disease in England has not found evidence of reduced effectiveness of the vaccine with time, apart from in infants, who are now given a booster dose at one year.4 In 2007-8 (July to June), only 28 laboratory confirmed cases were identified in England and Wales, compared with over 900 cases in the . . . [Full text of this article]

H Lucy Thomas, specialist registrar in public health1, Nick Andrews1, Caroline Trotter1, Mary Ramsay1, Elizabeth Miller1

1 Health Protection Agency Centre for Infection, London NW9 5EQ

lucy.thomas@hpa.org.uk


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Relevant Article

Herd immunity from meningococcal serogroup C conjugate vaccination in England: database analysis
Mary E Ramsay, Nick J Andrews, Caroline L Trotter, Edward B Kaczmarski, and Elizabeth Miller
BMJ 2003 326: 365-366. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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