Meningococcal vaccine to target local killer strain

By MARTIN JOHNSTON health reporter

Production has started in Norway of a tailor-made vaccine aimed at controlling New Zealand's 11-year epidemic of deadly meningococcal disease.

But the modified vaccine will not be available for several years since it must be tested here first.

The Ministry of Health said yesterday that it had signed a contract with California biotechnology company Chiron Corporation.

Chiron will produce the vaccine with Norway's National Institute of Public Health.

Production will later shift to Italy.

The institute developed a vaccine to deal with the B strain of meningococcal disease in Norway, but it had to be modified to target the B-strain sub-type now causing up to 90 per cent of cases in New Zealand.

A childhood infectious diseases specialist, Professor Diana Lennon, of Auckland University, said yesterday that a small trial would test the safety of the vaccine and the response it triggered in the immune system.

This could involve about 100 adult volunteers and would start between March and June next year.

She hailed the deal with Chiron as a big step in dealing with the disease, a view echoed by Richard Handley, chairman of the National Meningitis Trust.

In the year to July 13, there were 274 reported cases of the disease and 15 deaths, compared with 215 cases and eight deaths by the same point last year.

Since 1991, meningococcal disease has killed more than 170 people and infected about 3600.

New Zealand's worst childhood infectious disease in terms of the numbers killed or disabled, it can cause meningitis and blood poisoning.

Survivors may be brain-damaged or have limbs amputated.

The bug lies dormant in the throats of about 10 per cent of the population.

Meningococcal disease is linked to overcrowding and poverty and particularly strikes young people, Maori and Pacific Islanders.

The most common symptoms are fever, vomiting or a rash.

Patients may be lethargic, children will refuse drinks or food, and some people have headaches.

Urgent medical attention is vital as the illness can be cured by antibiotics if treated soon enough.

Professor Lennon said the institute's pre-modified version of the vaccine had been shown to provide protection for 10 months in a study of 225,000 Norwegian adolescents given two doses.

But protection tailed off longer-term - "You need more doses and maybe even a booster".

The vaccine caused a lot of mild reactions, such as lingering pain in the arm that was injected, but "no major side-effects that we are aware of", said Professor Lennon.

The ministry said the cost of the initial vaccine trial was still being negotiated.

The social cost of meningococcal disease has been estimated at $75 million a year, including hospital and rehabilitation costs of $29 million.

Dr Karen Poutasi, the Director-General of Health, said signing the contract was a highly significant first step towards reducing the disease's toll in New Zealand, but there was a lot more work to do.