Children enlisted in meningococcal disease battle

By DITA DE BONI

Papakura and Manurewa primary schoolchildren were the targets yesterday of a recruitment drive to find ways to stamp out the deadly meningococcal B disease in youngsters.

The 8- and 9-year-olds in class B2 at Finlayson Park School were among the many children visited by health authorities on the first day of an initiative that aims to sign up more than 300 youngsters to the new meningococcal B vaccine after next month.

The children, some of whom could barely pronounce "meningococcal" at the beginning of the lesson, were left at its end with no doubts about the seriousness of the disease, which can cause blindness, scarring, loss of limbs and death.

The recruitment drive aims to get children and their families interested in becoming part of a study group over the next six months.

After the classroom visits, students are given a pamphlet to take home to their families which explains how the vaccine study will work.

If caregivers agree, they are then contacted by authorities to explain the vaccine, and the children are assessed for how suitable they are for the study.

Targeting children aged 8 to 12 is phase two of the Government's $200 million strategy to combat meningococcal B nationwide, and follows the vaccination of 75 healthy adults.

Results of the adults' vaccination trial are not available yet but will have been processed by the time the children begin their own three-jab, 18-month vaccination programme.

If successful, the vaccine will be available to all youth between 2003-2005.

The strain of meningococcal B disease is unique to this country and has reached epidemic rates, particularly among Maori and Pacific people.

Until last Sunday, 375 cases of the disease had been detected so far this year and 11 deaths reported.

Last year, a record 650 cases and 26 deaths were reported. One-third of those contracting the disease were left with disabilities including brain damage and lesions needing skin grafts.

The disease, which is caused by a bacterium, can lead to blood poisoning, swelling of the brain or a combination of both.

Agencies involved in developing the vaccine programme, including the Ministry of Health and the Auckland District Health Board, the University of Auckland and the National Meningitis Trust, have calculated that the disease has cost the country $630 million.

Direct costs to the health sector have been estimated at $300 million.

Dr Kumanan Rasanathan, from UniServices, the company set up to find commercial outlets for Auckland University research, said that in some areas NZ's rates of the disease were 30 times more than in other Western countries.

Dr Rasanathan said authorities were still working through information from the adult vaccine trials to determine whether they produced the proper antibodies.

Further reading:
nzherald.co.nz/health