Meningitis vaccine might not halt disease - MSU contacting students who got vaccinated

http://www.lsj.com/news/local/021203_vaccine_1a-6a.html

Published 12/3/2002
Meningitis vaccine might not halt disease
MSU contacting students who got vaccinated

By Sharon Terlep
Lansing State Journal

EAST LANSING - MSU is sending letters to 2,300 students who received meningitis vaccines, after the manufacturer said the inoculations might not work.The nation's only producer of the adult version of the vaccine says it may not ward off a strain found in certain parts of Africa or in laboratories that study the disease.

Vaccine recall

Some meningitis vaccines made between January 2001 and October 2002 have been recalled. People should consider being revaccinated if they received a vaccine in that time and:

Work in a laboratory or industry that exposes them to the meningococcal group A.

Travel to parts of the world known at the "meningitis belt." This includes parts of Benin, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan and Tanzania.

People who may need a new vaccine should call the place where they received their first one. Revaccinations will be paid for by the manufacturer.

On the Web

www.menomune.com/page2.html

Michigan State University has Study Abroad programs in Ghana and Senegal - where people could be at risk.

But most MSU students are not at risk for meningitis, which is an inflammation of the lining surrounding the spinal cord and brain. The school is sending the letters as a safeguard.

"The reality is there aren't a large number of students who travel to Sub-Saharan Africa," said Kathi Braunlich, communications and planning coordinator at MSU's Olin Health Center. "But we want people to be well informed."

The faulty vaccines date to January 2001. They're produced by Aventis Pasteur in Bridgewater, N.J.

The firm will pay for revaccinations among people who are at risk, spokesman Len Lavenda said. He wouldn't say how much vaccine the company produces or how much might not work.

He said, in some cases, tests by the company revealed the vaccine might not protect against Group A of the meningococcus bacteria - found in a strip of African countries known as the "meningitis belt."

The illness affects nearly 3,000 Americans a year, though there's been only one death involving the group A strain in the last decade, according to Aventis.

"This is not a safety issue and no one needs to be concerned about it," Lavenda said.

The Ingham County Health Department is sending about 50 letters to people who may have received the faulty vaccine, Medical Director Dean Sienko said. Shiawassee Country put out a notice Monday offering free revaccinations to people in the affected groups.

At Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, 70 miles north of Lansing, a few students have come in for another vaccine, officials said.

Meningitis is an issue on college campuses because students living in close quarters are more likely to become sick. It's spread through intimate or household exposure such as kissing, sharing eating utensils or by secretions from the nose and throat.

The bacteria have infected six MSU students in the past five years. Three died.

Contact Sharon Terlep

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ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.