Cargando…

Meningococcal Disease in Pediatric Age: A Focus on Epidemiology and Prevention

Meningococcal disease is caused by Neisseria meningitidis; 13 serogroups have been identified and differentiated from each other through their capsular polysaccharide. Serotypes A, B, C, W, X, and Y are responsible for nearly all infections worldwide. The most common clinical manifestations are meni...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Di Pietro, Giada Maria, Biffi, Giulia, Castellazzi, Massimo Luca, Tagliabue, Claudia, Pinzani, Raffaella, Bosis, Samantha, Marchisio, Paola Giovanna
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8998454/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35409716
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19074035
_version_ 1784684947657719808
author Di Pietro, Giada Maria
Biffi, Giulia
Castellazzi, Massimo Luca
Tagliabue, Claudia
Pinzani, Raffaella
Bosis, Samantha
Marchisio, Paola Giovanna
author_facet Di Pietro, Giada Maria
Biffi, Giulia
Castellazzi, Massimo Luca
Tagliabue, Claudia
Pinzani, Raffaella
Bosis, Samantha
Marchisio, Paola Giovanna
author_sort Di Pietro, Giada Maria
collection PubMed
description Meningococcal disease is caused by Neisseria meningitidis; 13 serogroups have been identified and differentiated from each other through their capsular polysaccharide. Serotypes A, B, C, W, X, and Y are responsible for nearly all infections worldwide. The most common clinical manifestations are meningitis and invasive meningococcal disease, both characterized by high mortality and long-term sequelae. The infection rate is higher in children younger than 1 year and in adolescents, who are frequently asymptomatic carriers. Vaccination is the most effective method of preventing infection and transmission. Currently, both monovalent meningococcal vaccines (against A, B, and C serotypes) and quadrivalent meningococcal vaccines (against serogroups ACYW) are available and recommended according to local epidemiology. The purpose of this article is to describe the meningococcal vaccines and to identify instruments that are useful for reducing transmission and implementing the vaccination coverage. This aim could be reached by switching from the monovalent to the quadrivalent vaccine in the first year of life, increasing vaccine promotion against ACYW serotypes among adolescents, and extending the free offer of the anti-meningococcal B vaccine to teens, co-administering it with others proposed in the same age group. Greater awareness of the severity of the disease and increased health education through web and social networks could represent the best strategies for promoting adhesion and active participation in the vaccination campaign. Finally, the development of a licensed universal meningococcal vaccine should be another important objective.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8998454
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-89984542022-04-12 Meningococcal Disease in Pediatric Age: A Focus on Epidemiology and Prevention Di Pietro, Giada Maria Biffi, Giulia Castellazzi, Massimo Luca Tagliabue, Claudia Pinzani, Raffaella Bosis, Samantha Marchisio, Paola Giovanna Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Meningococcal disease is caused by Neisseria meningitidis; 13 serogroups have been identified and differentiated from each other through their capsular polysaccharide. Serotypes A, B, C, W, X, and Y are responsible for nearly all infections worldwide. The most common clinical manifestations are meningitis and invasive meningococcal disease, both characterized by high mortality and long-term sequelae. The infection rate is higher in children younger than 1 year and in adolescents, who are frequently asymptomatic carriers. Vaccination is the most effective method of preventing infection and transmission. Currently, both monovalent meningococcal vaccines (against A, B, and C serotypes) and quadrivalent meningococcal vaccines (against serogroups ACYW) are available and recommended according to local epidemiology. The purpose of this article is to describe the meningococcal vaccines and to identify instruments that are useful for reducing transmission and implementing the vaccination coverage. This aim could be reached by switching from the monovalent to the quadrivalent vaccine in the first year of life, increasing vaccine promotion against ACYW serotypes among adolescents, and extending the free offer of the anti-meningococcal B vaccine to teens, co-administering it with others proposed in the same age group. Greater awareness of the severity of the disease and increased health education through web and social networks could represent the best strategies for promoting adhesion and active participation in the vaccination campaign. Finally, the development of a licensed universal meningococcal vaccine should be another important objective. MDPI 2022-03-29 /pmc/articles/PMC8998454/ /pubmed/35409716 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19074035 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Di Pietro, Giada Maria
Biffi, Giulia
Castellazzi, Massimo Luca
Tagliabue, Claudia
Pinzani, Raffaella
Bosis, Samantha
Marchisio, Paola Giovanna
Meningococcal Disease in Pediatric Age: A Focus on Epidemiology and Prevention
title Meningococcal Disease in Pediatric Age: A Focus on Epidemiology and Prevention
title_full Meningococcal Disease in Pediatric Age: A Focus on Epidemiology and Prevention
title_fullStr Meningococcal Disease in Pediatric Age: A Focus on Epidemiology and Prevention
title_full_unstemmed Meningococcal Disease in Pediatric Age: A Focus on Epidemiology and Prevention
title_short Meningococcal Disease in Pediatric Age: A Focus on Epidemiology and Prevention
title_sort meningococcal disease in pediatric age: a focus on epidemiology and prevention
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8998454/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35409716
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19074035
work_keys_str_mv AT dipietrogiadamaria meningococcaldiseaseinpediatricageafocusonepidemiologyandprevention
AT biffigiulia meningococcaldiseaseinpediatricageafocusonepidemiologyandprevention
AT castellazzimassimoluca meningococcaldiseaseinpediatricageafocusonepidemiologyandprevention
AT tagliabueclaudia meningococcaldiseaseinpediatricageafocusonepidemiologyandprevention
AT pinzaniraffaella meningococcaldiseaseinpediatricageafocusonepidemiologyandprevention
AT bosissamantha meningococcaldiseaseinpediatricageafocusonepidemiologyandprevention
AT marchisiopaolagiovanna meningococcaldiseaseinpediatricageafocusonepidemiologyandprevention