Meningitis News and Research

Latest Meningitis News and Research

Neck surgeons brush up on West Nile virus

Neck Surgery Foundation Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO, being held September 19-22, 2004, at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, New York City, NY.

17 Sep 2004

ID Biomedical to supply meningitis C vaccine to the Canadian government

The Canadian government has retained an option to purchase additional product from the Company in the third and final year of the contract. The total value of the contract, including the third year option, could total approximately $30 million to ID Biomedical.

14 Sep 2004

Intelligent transit box keeps vaccinations cool

Vaccination supplies can be rendered useless if their temperature rises above the permitted maximum. MEDICASE has developed an intelligent transit box which ensures tight temperature control and which has a built-in data logger to provide a temperature audit trail.

14 Sep 2004

Pneumococcal vaccine reduces the incidence of middle ear infection and pneumonia

Infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria can cause serious illness and death. Invasive pneumococcal disease is responsible for about 200 deaths each year among children under 5 years old.

8 Sep 2004

New way of killing dangerous bacteria like the ones which cause anthrax and pneumonia

The new bug-smashing technique uses the bacteria’s own natural enemies, tiny viruses called bacteriophages (or phages), which can infect bacterial cells. The phages make thousands of copies of themselves inside infected bacteria, but then need to dissolve the bacteria’s cell wall to get out and infect other bacterial cells.

7 Sep 2004

First human cases of West Nile virus in Mississippi

The seven human cases occurred in: Covington (1), Harrison (1), Lincoln (1), Leflore (1), Rankin (2) and Simpson (1) counties; these numbers include the five suspected cases reported last week by the Mississippi State Department of Health.

11 Aug 2004

Growing crisis of antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Scientists, the federal government and the pharmaceutical industry must work together quickly to solve the growing crisis of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, a Virginia Commonwealth University infectious disease expert said in today's issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

5 Aug 2004

College freshmen, beware of dorm diseases

High school graduates have more in common with newborn babies than one would think. Although departing the proverbial family nest, incoming college freshmen need vaccinations, too.

2 Aug 2004

California's first human death from West Nile virus (WNV)

West Nile virus (WNV) has claimed the life of a 57-year old Orange County man, making him the first to die in California from the virus, Dr. Richard Joseph Jackson, state public health officer, announced today.

26 Jul 2004

West Nile Virus in South Dakota

West Nile virus (WNV) was first detected in the Western Hemisphere in 1999 in New York City. The virus spread west across the continent, reaching South Dakota in 2002.

19 Jul 2004

Vermont Department of Health reports that a Chittenden County toddler died over the weekend from meningococcal disease

The child, who attended Ed-U-Care Children's Center in Essex Junction, became ill on Saturday night, was taken to the hospital and died early Sunday morning.

13 Jul 2004

The case of a high school student in King County who died this week of meningococcal disease has created public concern

The case of a high school student in King County who was hospitalized and died this week of meningococcal disease – commonly called bacterial meningitis – has created some public concern about risks of exposure to the disease.

10 Jul 2004

Chiron has received a license for its new meningococcal B vaccine for New Zealand

Chiron developed the vaccine, in close collaboration with the New Zealand Ministry of Health and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, to protect against the specific meningococcal B strain responsible for a 13-year epidemic in the country.

7 Jul 2004

Pneumococcal vaccination now free in Ontario

The pneumococcal vaccination, the first of three new free child vaccines being introduced by the McGuinty government, is now available, Health and Long-Term Care Minister George Smitherman announced today.

2 Jul 2004

MRSA "superbug" genome decoded

On 18 June 2004, the BBC reported fears that deaths from the 'superbug' MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) might double in the next five years.

25 Jun 2004

Mathematics helps explain meningococcal meningitis outbreaks

Outbreaks of meningococcal meningitis depend on small differences in the pathogenicity of different bacterial strains, a new report indicates.

22 Jun 2004

Fairfax student dies after a four-day hospitalization for meningitis/encephalitis

A 16-year old Chantilly high school student died last week after a four-day hospitalization for meningitis/encephalitis. The cause does not appear to be bacterial meningitis. However, an autopsy is pending and investigation is underway.

20 Jun 2004

U.S. team to battle malaria in Peru

In the middle of the Peruvian Amazon, a battle against malaria – the second largest killer of people worldwide – will be undertaken by an international team of researchers led by tropical disease specialist Joseph Vinetz, M.D., from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine.

11 Jun 2004

Antibiotics given to entire household reduces risk of meningitis

Giving antibiotics to everyone living in the same household as a patient who has had meningitis can substantially reduce the risk of further cases, according to a study in this week's BMJ.

5 Jun 2004