§ Mr. PickthallTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures his Department is taking to ensure early diagnosis of and fast treatment for bacterial meningitis. [11726]
§ Mr. HoramGuidance on the early management and treatment of cases and contacts of meningitis has been issued by the Department of Health, the Public Health Laboratory Service and the National Meningitis Trust, which receive funding from the Department of Health. In October 1995, the chief medical officer wrote to all doctors and health authorities alerting them to the expected winter rise in cases of meningococcal infection and reminding doctors of the benefits of early administration of benzylpenicillin. Directors of public health were reminded in November of the need for local plans to respond to outbreaks of meningococcal infection, especially those involving schools. Since issuing its guidelines on control of meningococcal infection in 1989, the PHLS has issued regular updates. The guidelines are sent to all DPHs and local consultants in communicable disease control, the most recent being published in the communicable disease report of 8 December 1995.
The Department and the National Meningitis Trust have collaborated in providing an information leaflet for parents of small children and for teenagers. The leaflet is included in the college bag for students, a group where there is a higher risk of meningitis than for other adults.
§ Mr. PickthallTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to make available vaccination against bacterial meningitis for all children. [11727]
§ Mr. HoramThere is no vaccine available against the most common form of meningococcal infection, meningitis group B. Vaccine is available against group C meningitis but this vaccine is not appropriate for use on a routine basis. The vaccine is not effective in children under age two, the group at highest risk of group C meningitis, and in older individuals the protection it provides is only short lived. Because the available vaccine is not very effective, the independent expert committee, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, which advises the United Kingdom Health Departments, does not recommend the meningitis C vaccine for general immunisation. The vaccine may be used in clearly identified target groups, such as school contacts, whenever local circumstances indicate. No country in the world uses this vaccine for all children.
The Department of Health has invested considerable resources in trials of new meningococcal vaccines.
381WHaemophilus influenzae b (Hib) used to be the most common form of bacterial meningitis in the under-fives, but Hib meningitis has now been virtually eliminated since the introduction of Hib vaccine into the childhood immunisation programme in 1992.