Lifesavers · No. 29
The meningitis A vaccine
MenAfriVac all but eliminated the meningitis A epidemics that used to sweep Africa's meningitis belt: in fully vaccinated populations, confirmed cases fell by more than 99%.
From a WHO-funded surveillance analysis (Trotter et al., The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2017). The incidence of suspected meningitis from any cause fell by 57% (95% CI 55 to 59) across the same nine countries. Hundreds of millions of people across the African meningitis belt have been vaccinated since the campaign began in Burkina Faso in December 2010.
How it saves lives
Meningococcal meningitis spreads person to person and can kill within hours or leave survivors with permanent brain damage, deafness, or limb loss; across a band of countries south of the Sahara known as the meningitis belt, it struck in explosive seasonal epidemics. MenAfriVac is a conjugate vaccine, engineered to trigger a stronger, longer immune response than older meningitis vaccines, and critically, to block the bacteria from spreading between people at all, not just prevent illness in the person vaccinated.
The story
Meningitis A epidemics were a near-annual catastrophe across the African meningitis belt for a century, killing thousands and disabling many more in the worst years. Existing vaccines worked poorly and briefly. MenAfriVac was developed specifically for the belt, first deployed in Burkina Faso in December 2010, and by 2015 surveillance across nine countries could measure what changed: suspected meningitis cases fell 57%, and in fully vaccinated populations, confirmed group A disease was cut by more than 99%, all but disappearing from the region.
From the record
The incidence of suspected meningitis cases declined by 57% (95% CI 55-59) in vaccinated compared with unvaccinated populations, with some heterogeneity observed by country.
From the record
In fully vaccinated populations, the incidence of confirmed group A disease was reduced by more than 99%.
Asked often
How effective has the meningitis A vaccine been in Africa?
A WHO-funded analysis of surveillance data from nine African meningitis belt countries between 2010 and 2015 found that suspected meningitis cases fell by 57% in vaccinated compared with unvaccinated populations, and in fully vaccinated populations, confirmed group A meningococcal disease fell by more than 99%.
What is MenAfriVac?
MenAfriVac is a meningococcal group A conjugate vaccine, developed specifically for the African meningitis belt through a partnership between the World Health Organization and the nonprofit PATH, and first deployed in Burkina Faso in December 2010.
The next one is being invented now.
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