A study of meningococcal carriage in teenagers prior to vaccination with the New Zealand meningococcal B.
Research archive
- University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- Project Number: 0304.0
- Category: Prevention
- Duration: 2004 - 2007
- Start Date: 01 January 2004
- Type: Lay summary
- View scientific version
Over the last 12 years there has been an epidemic of Group B meningococcal disease in New Zealand. The epidemic is due to a specific sub-strain of Group B meningococcal bacteria which is not nearly as common in the UK and Ireland.
There is a new vaccine against the New Zealand epidemic strain, called MenZB, and a vaccination campaign began at the end of 2004.
In order to measure the impact of this vaccine on the disease, it is important to understand its effect on carriage and spread of the bacteria. However, there was no existing information on the frequency of carriage before the vaccine campaign began.
In this project, researchers undertook a carriage study amongst teenagers before the campaign, by going into schools and taking throat swabs from students. They are now conducting a detailed molecular analysis of the bacteria isolated from the throat swab samples. This in-depth knowledge about the people and the bacteria they carry will help policy makers to determine how the vaccine should be implemented in the long term.
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This project was featured in the Spring 2004 edition of our newsletter, Microscope. Click to view.
This project was featured in our 2004 annual review. Click to view.