Eight-fold rise in MenC cases causes concern

A sharp rise in the incidence of meningococcal C disease is causing concern among health experts.

A recent eight-fold increase in the incidence of a disease that had been virtually eliminated in Ireland has prompted the Health Service Executive to offer booster vaccines to all first-year students this school year.

Over the past decade, the number of meningococcal C cases has fallen from 139 in 2000 to just one last year. The decline is the direct result of the introduction of a new vaccine in October 2000, which is given to babies at two, four and six months. A catch-up campaign was also organised to target young people aged under 23 years.

In the first six months of this year, however, four cases of invasive meningococcal C were notified, the highest number since 2005, according to the HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre. Those who got the disease ranged in age from a teenager to a person in their 70s.

The young person was unvaccinated and had recently arrived from a country where the vaccine is not routinely provided.

Meningococcus is a germ that can cause meningitis and septicaemia, as well as pneumonia and conjunctivitis. Some of these infections are very serious and can be fatal if not treated quickly.

The HPSC says the increase in cases, after years of good control, suggests a rise in carriage and transmissions in the community. Studies in the UK have pointed to waning immunity among children vaccinated in the first year of life.

The National Immunisation Advisory Committee recently updated its guidance and now recommends a MenC vaccine dose to 12-year-olds in order to boost immunity to the bacteria that causes the disease.

The MenC vaccine will be given to girls at the same time as the second dose of the HPV vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, and in the second or third term for boys.