Vaccine may curb spread of meningitis

A new way that vaccines could be used to combat the spread of bacterial meningitis has been demonstrated by scientists. Research suggests that even after they stop fighting the bugs in the bloodstream, vaccines can prevent them being carried in the nose and throat.

In a study of two new vaccines, “carriage rates” of meningococcal bacteria were reduced by up to 39%.

This was likely to curb person-to-person transmission of the bugs long after the vaccines ceased to be active in the blood.