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A new vaccine against the deadly disease meningitis B is set be made available free on the NHS. The Department of Health said that it would make an announcement on Friday morning.
The Bexsero treatment was licensed in Europe in January last year but the NHS had previously been advised against adopting it due to a lack of evidence of its effectiveness.
Meningitis B, which is most common in children under five years old, particularly in babies under the age of one, is a highly aggressive strain of bacterial meningitis. It infects the protective membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord and can cause severe brain damage, septicaemia or even death.
Of the estimated 1,870 cases of meningitis B each year in the UK about one in 10 people affected will die and one in three will be left with debilitating after-effects such as loss of limbs or brain damage, according to campaigners.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/mar/21/vaccine-meningitis-b-available-nhs
The Bexsero treatment was licensed in Europe in January last year but the NHS had previously been advised against adopting it due to a lack of evidence of its effectiveness.
Meningitis B, which is most common in children under five years old, particularly in babies under the age of one, is a highly aggressive strain of bacterial meningitis. It infects the protective membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord and can cause severe brain damage, septicaemia or even death.
Of the estimated 1,870 cases of meningitis B each year in the UK about one in 10 people affected will die and one in three will be left with debilitating after-effects such as loss of limbs or brain damage, according to campaigners.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/mar/21/vaccine-meningitis-b-available-nhs