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Smoking and the risk of meningitis in teenagers
04 May 2006
A major research study funded by national charity Meningitis Research Foundation has reported in the International Journal of Epidemiology on the increased risk of meningococcal disease - meningitis and septicaemia - in teenagers who are in contact with smokers.
The study, conducted across eight health regions in England and led by Professor Robert Booy, now co-director of the National Centre for Immunisation Research at the Sydney Children's Hospital, Australia, looked at some factors that might explain why teenagers and young adults are at higher risk than younger school age children of meningococcal disease.
Meningococcal bacteria, which cause most cases of meningitis and septicaemia in the UK, are carried in the back of the nose and throat of one in ten of the population, but smokers are more likely to carry the bacteria. For most people carrying the meningococcal bacteria causes no problems, but for some people the bacteria break through into the bloodstream to cause meningitis and septicaemia - diseases which can kill in hours.
The study concludes that in this particular age group it is the exposure to smokers, who are more likely to carry the bacteria, rather than the direct effect of passive smoking, which increases the risk of meningococcal disease.
Co-author of the study, Consultant in Adolescent Medicine at University College London and Great Ormond Street Hospital, Dr Russell Viner, said: "This study emphasises the importance of public health measures to stop smoking, particularly in reference to cases of meningitis and septicaemia." Professor Booy added: "Parents and partners who think they are protecting their nearest and dearest by only smoking outside the home may be deluding themselves."
Denise Vaughan, Chief Executive of Meningitis Research Foundation, commented: "Meningitis Research Foundation welcomes this study which continues to increase our knowledge of why young people are more at risk of contracting meningococcal meningitis and septicaemia than other age groups. Because young adults are in a higher risk category, the Foundation produces awareness materials which are tailor-made for them, distributing 100,000s of copies every year to, for instance, universities and colleges at the start of the academic year."
Read more about this project:
Research archive for the public: Meningococcal disease in adolescence: an integrated social, biological and psychological investigation
Research archive for the scientific community:The adolescent peak in meningococcal disease: An integrated social, biological and psychological investigation