Meningitis Vaccine Trial Successful in West Africa. 

The trial of a low cost and effective meningitis vaccine expected to be introduced in 2009 has been successful in West Africa. 

According to Professor Marc Laforce, head Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP) in Ouagadougou, the Burkina Faso capital, clinical trials conducted in Senegal, The Gambia and Mali showed positive results. 

He was quoted as saying “the vaccine is very immunogenic. “The vaccine protects against the most virulent strain [of meningitis] in Africa that causes 85 percent of all damages and this vaccine will address much of the difficulty [of treatment].” 

The new vaccine is believed to be effective at stopping massive outbreaks because it directly attacks the germ in the throat, preventing the main form of transmission, which is coughing, although that is going to be tested in further trials in Burkina Faso next year. 

Cost Effective  

Kader Kondé, the MVP focal point in the World Health Organization's (WHO) office in Ouagadougou said that the MVP has inked a deal with the Serum Institute of India (SII) to produce 25 million doses of the vaccine for African countries over a period of ten years. 

The new vaccine dose is going to cost 0.40 US dollars compared to the 10 to 20 dollars vaccines usually cost. “The advantage of the new vaccine is that it is going to be affordable”, Kondé said. 

According to the WHO, with the new lower cost vaccine, it will cost 500 million US dollars to immunise 500 million people between the ages of 0 and 29 in Africa. 

First Beneficiaries 

The first countries to benefit will be Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger where meningitis hits hard annually in the dry season from December until May. 

Meningitis bacteria is transmitted through respiratory secretions, such as sneezing or coughing, which is why it is more prevalent in the first six months of the year when there are strong winds and people's immune systems are weakened by the colder climate. 

More Advantages  

Other advantages of the new drug are that it provides immunity for ten years instead of the current two. It can also be administered to children under two years-old, and it can be used preventively not just as a treatment. 

Meningitis, which attacks the brain and spinal column and is potentially fatal, is endemic in much of the arid Sahel region of Africa with outbreaks most common during the dry season, from January to March. This is when dry sand-laden winds that settle hazily in the sky act as carriers of the meningitis bacteria which can attach to dust particles.

The new vaccine treats the type A strain of meningitis which is most prevalent in Africa. 

Side Effects  

However, WHO said, the vaccine does not protect against the W135 strain of meningitis, which has been responsible for some of the largest and most fatal outbreaks in recent years. 

 In 2002, an outbreak of the W135 strain of meningitis afflicted 13,000 people and killed 1,500 in Burkina Faso. 

 

UN/AOA/ Qasim