Dr. Massimo Galli, Past President of SIMIT (Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases) and Full Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Milan, reminds Ansa that it is children and adolescents, along with some individuals considered vulnerable, who are the categories most at risk of contracting bacterial meningitis.
Dr. Galli explains that each of us in the course of our lives comes into contact at least once with the meningitis bacterium. To develop the disease, however, is a relatively small percentage (about 200 people/year) compared to the thousands and thousands of healthy carriers.
Meningococcal (B,C,W,Y,A) vaccination is an appropriate and effective preventive strategy for the entire population, with a special focus, however, on the most vulnerable.
For this reason, the Vaccine Calendar strongly recommends that children be vaccinated for meningococcal B and meningococcal C (the prevalent strains in Italy and Europe) during the first years of life.
In fact, children and adolescents have immune systems that are not yet fully mature, and transmission is also favored by the type of busy social life, such as many hours spent in the classroom.
Adults with diseases that compromise the immune system (such as genetic diseases, oncohematological diseases, diabetes..) or who use immunosuppressive therapies are also elective subjects for vaccination, along with those who by work are in close contact with settings where transmission of the bacterium is favored, such as teachers and health care personnel.
For obvious reasons, those who have been in close contact, especially prolonged contact, with those who have developed meningococcal disease are considered particularly at risk.
Source: ANSA
