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New research projects
01 February 2004
Following Meningitis Research Foundation's largest research grants round ever, when our Scientific Advisory Panel considered many high quality applications, the charity's trustees approved four new projects to join our research programme.
The first of the projects, based at St Mary's Hospital in London, focuses on a potential treatment related to heart failure - the main cause of death in people with meningococcal septicaemia.
Two other projects concern evaluation of a new group B meningococcal vaccine for New Zealand. Prevention of group B meningococcal meningitis and septicaemia was the subject of Professor Diana Lennon's presentation at Meningitis Research Foundation's conference Meningitis and Septicaemia in Children and Adults held in November 2003.
Based at the University of Auckland, the first of these new studies will investigate carriage of meningococcal bacteria in a population of New Zealand teenagers. In the second, researchers will look at carriage in a separate group of teenagers after the New Zealand group B vaccine has been given.
The disease pattern in New Zealand is different to the UK and Ireland. For the past 12 years, New Zealand has experienced an epidemic of group B meningococcal disease. However, this epidemic is due to a single strain of group B, whereas in the UK and Ireland there are several strains of group B meningococcal bacteria that cause disease. This means that the New Zealand group B vaccine would not in itself provide a full solution to the group B problem in the UK and Ireland.
The fourth new project looks at the outcome of bacterial meningitis in adults. Researchers will be looking at long term after effects experienced by adults who received steroids as part of their treatment compared with those who did not.
Read more about these projects:
Current research projects for the public - The pathway to a new treatment in meningococcal septicaemia - blocking IL-6 to reverse heart failure
Current research projects for the scientific community - Reversal of myocardial dysfunction of meningococcal septicaemia through targeted blockade of interleukin 6
Research archive for the public - A study of meningococcal carriage in teenagers prior to vaccination with the New Zealand meningococcal B
Reserch archive for the scientific community - A cross-sectional study of nasophayngeal carriage in teenagers prior to vaccination with the meningococcal B vaccine
Research archive for the public - Long term outcome in adult survivors of bacterial meningitis and the impact of steroid treatment
Research archive for the scientic community - Long-term outcome in adults with acute bacterial meningitis and the impact of dexamethasone treatment