Meningococcal group C disease in Greece during 1993–2006: the impact of an unofficial single-dose vaccination scheme adopted by most paediatricians

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the meningococcal C conjugate vaccine on the epidemiology of meningococcal C disease in Greece. Data from the National Reference Laboratory for Meningococcal Disease and a questionnaire distributed to Greek paediatricians were assessed. Since the introduction of the vaccine in 2001, 72% of Greek paediatricians have administered it as one single dose to patients aged > or =12 months. This vaccination scheme has probably contributed to a dramatic decrease in the number of meningococcal C infections, which reached zero in 2004.

Reduction inNeisseria meningitidisinfection in Italy after Meningococcal C conjugate vaccine introduction: A time trend analysis of 1994–2012 series

“…[11][12][13][14] As also observed by Mooney et al 14 , the reversal of the increasing trend of serogroup C related IMD was simultaneous with the timing of MCC introduction and, therefore, likely attributable to it. The impact of MCC was investigated in many other European and Italian regional studies [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] which showed an important decrease in N. meningitidis C related IMD and a vaccine effectiveness as high as 100% depending on the age group and on the time elapsed from vaccination. A downward trend in serogroup C related IMD was also confirmed by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in countries with MCC vaccination.…”

An epidemiological review of changes in meningococcal biology during the last 100 years

“…3,34 This was until the introduction of the MenC vaccine which lead to serogroup B dominating and a decline in incidence in the 2000s. 6,19,41,42,72 The MenC vaccine was first introduced in 1999 in the United Kingdom and a 93% protective effect was found among teenagers in a study conducted the same year. 73 After one year of vaccination, the incidence of disease was observed to have reduced by 81% and herd immunity was induced 4,54,66,74 while carriage reduced by 66% from 1999 to 2000.…”

Serogroup C meningococci in Italy in the era of conjugate menC vaccination

“…Several countries have documented the effectiveness of meningococcal conjugate C vaccines; in particular, vaccination campaigns in the UK, Greece and Spain triggered a rapid decrease in cases of serogroup C disease [3,5,15]. However, there is also evidence that in the absence of vaccination disease incidence may fall as naturally acquired immunity rises [16,17] but this is not a rapid process [2,18].…”