About us

Meningitis UK's Search for a Vaccine

Meningitis UK's vision

Meningitis UK is a national charity based in Bristol. Our sole focus is on prevention and funding lifesaving research to eradicate all forms of meningitis. Meningitis is a terrifying disease which can kill in less than four hours and tragically is most prevalent in children and young people.

Sadly, the disease strikes with incredible speed and can be very difficult to detect as its symptoms are so similar to the common cold and flu. There are also times when people show no, or very few, symptoms. For all these reasons, we believe that prevention is the only way to truly eradicate the disease.

Meningitis affects thousands of people in the UK every year and devastates families and whole communities, so developing a vaccine will make a huge difference to countless lives.

The history of Meningitis UK

Meningitis UK was established in 1999 to fund a £500,000 state-of-the-art dedicated meningitis research laboratory in the University of Bristol's School of Medical Sciences. The charity's Chief Executive, Steve Dayman, tragically lost his 14-month old son Spencer to meningitis and meningococcal septicaemia in 1982. Steve has since dedicated his life to the meningitis cause, working tirelessly to raise funds to find a vaccine which could change the fate of others who might otherwise find themselves in the same terrible position.

Spencer Dayman

Read about the experiences that Steve and his wife Gloria went through when they lost their son Spencer.

The Spencer Dayman Meningitis Laboratories - named in memory of Spencer - were officially opened in April 2002, and now house a two and a half million pound investment into meningitis research. Since the successful completion of this project, the charity has adopted the working name of Meningitis UK and is now solely focused on the development of vaccines to protect against all forms of meningitis.

The opening of the Spencer Dayman Meningitis Laboratories

Since the charity started in 1999, Meningitis UK has invested over £2 million pounds into meningitis research in the UK, and is now the leading meningitis charity solely focussed on supporting research into the development of meningitis vaccines in the UK.

Meningitis UK marks its 10th anniversary

Past breakthroughs

Significant breakthroughs have been made in combating the disease.

Since Steve first got involved with the meningitis cause 26 years ago, significant breakthroughs have been made in combating the disease. These include the development of the Hib vaccine which was introduced into the Childhood Immunisation Programme in the UK in 1992, the meningitis C vaccine in 1999, and a vaccine to protect against pneumococcal meningitis in 2006. Since its introduction, the meningitis C vaccine has reduced cases of Group C disease by over 90%. Estimates show that in its first year, the pneumococcal vaccine prevented over 300 cases of serious childhood illness such as pneumococcal meningitis.

Future challenges

Developing a vaccine against meningitis B is our biggest remaining challenge.

Although fantastic progress has been made over the last 20 years, there is still no vaccine available to protect against all forms of meningitis and associated diseases, including the most common form in the UK - meningococcal group B, which causes almost 90% of all cases. Our researchers are working hard to develop a vaccine against meningitis B and we are confident that a vaccine can be developed in years to come.