Last Updated: 2003-01-09 13:05:03 -0400 (Reuters Health)

FLORENCE (Reuters Health) - Health authorities in northern Italy on Wednesday announced a mass vaccination programme against meningitis, after an upsurge of the disease in Lombardy.

The programme, due to start on 20 January, is the first mass vaccination against meningococcus ever carried out in Italy and will cost 250,000 euros.

The meningitis C vaccination is recommended for about 10,000 children and teenagers who live in the area around Magenta, a village 6 kilometres away from Milan.

Meningitis is an inflammation of the membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord, usually caused by a virus or bacterium. Symptoms include a high fever, severe headache and neck stiffness.

Bacterial meningitis is a serious, potentially fatal condition. Antibiotics are an effective treatment, but the infection can damage the brain and have long-term complications such as hearing loss and speech problems.

Despite the launch of a meningitis C vaccination campaign in September in Lombardy, six cases of bacterial meningitis have been recorded in Magenta and the surrounding area in 45 days.

Local health authorities will monitor the efficacy of the treatment with checks on the vaccinated until 2007.

"This trial combines prevention with study as it centres on an area where more cases of meningitis are recorded compared to the national average," Lombardy's regional health councilor Carlo Borsani said in a statement.

According to data from the National Health Institute, starting from 1994 most bacterial meningitis cases in Italy were due to Streptococcus pneumoniae. The next most common pathogen was Neisseria meningititis.

Last year Lombardy recorded 187 cases of meningitis.