Science Success
An important breakthrough in gene technology by scientists at Oxford University could be the first step on the road to a vaccine against meningitis B.
Although vaccines for the A and C strains of the disease already exist, a similar vaccine for the B strain has proved far more elusive. The mapping of the genes that allow the B strain bacterium to attack the body is a breakthrough stage in the search for a vaccine.
Researchers in the University's Paediatrics and Biochemistry Departments have discovered what they term 'virulence genes', those genes that transform the otherwise harmless B strain bacterium Neisseria meningitidis, which lives harmlessly in the noses and throats of 10% of people, into the vicious microbe that attacks the bloodstream and can kill previously healthy individuals within hours.
Doctor Christoph Tang, a scientist in the Department of Paediatrics and head of the study, said: "The spread of the bacterium through the body in the bloodstream is a critical step in the disease process."
"Without this septicaemic stage the bacterium does not cause any harm in people, and our work pinpoints 75 genes in the meningococcus that are essential to this stage. It will now allow us to focus on this subset of critical genes as the target of vaccines and therapies to prevent and treat this serious infection."
Meningitis kills more children under the age of five than any other infectious disease in the UK and one in ten cases of the disease ends in death. Many of the survivors are left with severe disabilities such as brain damage and deafness.
A nationwide vaccination programme against meningitis C has lead to a drop in cases of the disease. The B strain, however, which is responsible for sixty percent of meningitis cases in the UK, has posed more of a problem.
A spokesperson for the National Meningitis Trust welcomed the breakthrough as a step towards the creation of an effective vaccine against meningitis B and hopefully the eradication of the disease.
"Hopefully we'll see a reduction in cases when the B vaccine is introduced into the country. This won't happen tomorrow, though, or even in the next year. We're looking at it taking five years plus to develop a vaccine that can be used. Once we've got the vaccine, there will have to be trials before its use can be widespread."
"Although we can't say that the disease will be eradicated, it's something we're hoping for. The Hib strain of meningitis is very unusual in Britain now that a vaccine has been developed for it, and hopefully this will be mirrored with the introduction of the B vaccine."
9th Nov 2000