A new meningococcal B vaccine

Neisseria meningitidis is an important cause of invasive bacterial infection in children worldwide, and is a rare example of a bacterium that has evolved to become an obligate human commensal which commonly colonizes the oropharyngeal mucosa. Carriage is age-dependent and appears to be very common in young adults. The relationships between carriage and invasive disease are not completely understood [1]. Each year approximately 1.2 million cases of invasive meningococcal disease (sepsis or meningitis) with 135,000 deaths are estimated to occur worldwide [2]. Epidemiology and serogroup distribution differs geographically, as the example in Figure 1 shows, with invasive disease mainly affecting young children, older children and young adults. In addition to age, another individual risk factor includes underlying immune deficiencies; the deficiency of complement components is a known risk factor for invasive infection. Crowding and concurrent upper respiratory tract infections might also contribute to the disease. In early 2013, a new vaccine developed specifically to prevent disease caused by group B meningococci (MenB)