New recommendations concerning meningococcal vaccination could be formulated by the High Authority for Health.
- In 2022/2023, the number of meningitis cases was higher, compared to the winters before the Covid-19 pandemic.
- This increase could be linked to a drop in natural immunity caused by barrier gestures during the pandemic.
- Vaccination protects against certain meningococci, but not all vaccines are mandatory.
“After more than two years of low incidence during the COVID-19 pandemic, an upsurge in invasive meningococcal infections (IMDs) has been observed in the 2022/23 season.”notes Public Health France in a communicated. The peak was reached as early as December, but the number of cases remained high at the beginning of 2023, compared to the years “pre-pandemic”. This upsurge in cases could prompt health authorities to make new recommendations.
Meningitis: how to explain the increase in cases?
For Public Health Francethis rebound is not a “unexpected phenomenon“because the two previous years were marked by a low circulation of meningococci, responsible for meningitis. The national health agency formulates two hypotheses to explain this upsurge:”a higher risk of infection resulting from reduced immunity in the population having been less exposed to meningococci between 2020 and 2022 (barrier gestures, distancing)” And “a more pronounced season in line with the scale of the epidemics of seasonal viral infections in 2022/23, in particular infections by the influenza virus, which can lead to a risk of invasive bacterial infection (meningococci, streptococci)“.
Faced with the multiplication of contaminations in certain regions, the local health authorities have taken measures. For example, in the East Lyonnais sector or in the North of Isère, an outbreak of cases has been observed, which has led the Regional Health Agency to issue new recommendations concerning vaccination. “If children aged 0 to 2 years are already affected by this vaccine everywhere, reimbursement has been extended to 16-24 year olds, the age group by far the most affected in eastern Lyon so far.explain France Blue Isere. Letters have also been sent to the homes of 5,000 young people in this age group in the ten municipalities at the heart of the phenomenon..”
Vaccination: what could be the new recommendations for meningitis?
In fact, today, vaccination against meningococcal C is compulsory for infants born from 2018: the first dose is administered at the age of 5 months. “This vaccination is recommended for unvaccinated people up to the age of 24.precise Vaccination Info Service. The other vaccines which concern different forms of meningococci are only recommended: that against serogroup B meningococci is recommended for all infants up to two years of age. “There are also vaccines against meningococcal infections of serogroups A, C, Y and W (tetravalent vaccines ACYW135), adds Vaccination Info Service. A bivalent vaccine against meningococci A and C is available but it is reserved only for special situations in infants from 6 months to 1 year old.”
Faced with the upsurge in cases, vaccination obligations could change. According to daily reports THE World“the High Authority for Health is currently working on new recommendations”. “The simplest and most urgent thing to do is to replace the second dose of meningococcal C vaccine at 12 months with a dose of tetravalent”believes Muhamed-Kheir Taha, director of the invasive bacterial infections unit at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, in the article by World. This vaccine provides protection against meningococci types A, C, W and Y. According to the national daily, the work of the HAS concerning the new vaccine recommendations should be successful “probably before the summer”.