The scourge of meningitis, which kills scores of children and maims hundreds more in Europe and around the world every year, could be virtually eliminated thanks to a recent medical breakthrough.
Scientists have announced positive results from trials of a vaccine that provides 80 per cent protection against the main cause of the disease. Experts hailed the advance as an "extremely encouraging step forward" in the battle against the bacterial infection, which can strike in minutes and kill in hours.
Generations of parents have lived in terror of the disease because it targets the young, strikes with unnerving speed and ferocity, and kills one in 10 of those it infects. Many of those who survive it suffer permanent disabilities that can include deafness, neurological problems and the loss of fingers and limbs.
A license for the vaccine, manufactured by the Swiss multinational Novartis, is expected to be granted by the European Medicines Agency at the end of this year, after which it will be considered for introduction into the routine immunization programs.
For more: Vaccine offers '80 per cent protection' against main cause of meningitis - Health News, Health & Families - The Independent
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