Adolescents need a booster of serogroup C meningococcal vaccine to protect them and maintain population control of the disease

摘要

The serogroup C meningococcal immunisation programme was reviewed during 2012 by the Department of Health's joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), and an adolescent booster has been recommended as a result of concerns over duration of immunity in the childhood population.During the 1990s, a clone of Neisseria meningitidis (sequence type 11; ST11) with a serogroup C polysaccharide capsule (repeating units of the sugar, a-2-9 N acetyl neuraminic acid) swept through the UK causing outbreaks of meningococcal disease in schools and universities, generating considerable media attention and anxiety for parents and those doctors, including paediatricians, in the front line of early diagnosis.