Meningitis Prevention - Meningitis Research - Meningitis Cure

At Meningitis UK we are solely focussed on finding a meningitis vaccination. We believe that finding a meningitis prevention vaccine rather then treatment is the way forward, so we can eradicate the disease altogether. A meningitis vaccine already exists for the C strain of the bacteria, which has reduced numbers in the UK, however there are still hundreds of cases of the B strain which is continuing to kill people every year. This is why Meningitis UK is striving to find a meningitis vaccine for the B strand.

Meningitis research has come a long way over the past decade; however there is still no single vaccine that covers the three main strains of meningococcal meningitis, strains A, B and C. A meningitis cure is what we hope to achieve by being the leading charity focussed on meningitis research.

The continued devastation that meningitis causes and the recent rise in cases in the first half of 2009 means that attention is now focussed on finding a meningitis vaccination. The B strain is far more complex that its closest counterpart – the Meningitis C bacterium. The proteins on the cell’s outer capsule vary between the different Meningitis B strains and the bacteria can also mutate and trick the immune system. This means that finding this meningitis cure is a real challenge. Meningitis strand B accounts for just under 90% of all the cases within the UK so it’s imperative that we are working tirelessly on finding this vaccination.

Meningitis prevention is a worldwide battle however the UK is at the forefront in leading the research into a cure, and although a large amount of progress has been made in the past decade, there is still a lot of hard work that is taking place, however we believe that it is possible to overcome the hurdles we are facing and to develop a vaccine to protect people in the future.