Do not Be Fooled by Anti-Vaccine Discourse

When it comes to vaccines in our country, one of the topics at the top of the agenda in recent days is meningitis vaccines. Meningitis, defined as the inflammation of the brain membrane by bacteria called meningococcus, is a bacterial disease with a very serious mortality and disability rate for centuries. Yeditepe University Kozyatağı Hospital  Pediatrics Specialist Dr. Perihan Çobanoğlu Saf gave information about meningitis vaccines...

• Undoubtedly, the majority of childhood diseases are infectious diseases. Among them, some can result in very serious epidemics, infant deaths, and disabilities.
• Today, dozens of vaccination programs are implemented in order to protect our children from these severely damaging infectious diseases, which are carried out in different numbers and programs in every country around the world. Thanks to these vaccination programs that have been going on for years, there are diseases such as smallpox that we have managed to eradicate across the world.

It is Developing Insidiously and Progressing Fast!

• The most distinctive feature of meningococcal infection is not only limited to brain membrane infection but also spread to the whole body via blood and sepsis development within hours.
• Meningococcemia is an insidious infection. It starts with fever, runny nose, weakness, sore throat, nausea, and flu-like symptoms. In a short time like 8 hours, the picture starts to worsen. The child has impaired consciousness, bruises all over the body, and his/her vital signs begin to deteriorate. If the diagnosis is not made quickly and intervention is not made, the need for intensive care becomes inevitable 24 hours after the first symptoms begin to appear at the latest. 

It Is Most Commonly Encountered Between the Ages of 3 Months and 1 Year

• Meningococcemia continues to be a serious public health problem all over the world today. According to statistics, 500 thousand of new cases are seen all over the world every year. While 50 thousand of these cases die, it causes serious disability at a rate of 10-20% in people who live after the disease despite all treatments.
• In our country, meningococcal meningitis is responsible for 9.5 percent of deaths in children under 5 years old.
• The disease is most commonly encountered in children aged 3 months to 1 year when protective antibodies have not yet formed. The second increase is in adolescents between the ages of 15-17. Therefore, we need to protect our children from this insidious and deadly disease.

If Vaccination Starts Early, Protection Starts Early

There are 5 defined types of meningococcal bacteria observed all over the world, namely A, B, C, Y, and W-135. The most common types in our country are types W-135 and B. Both of these types can be prevented by vaccination. The vaccine, which includes types A, C, W, and Y, has been started to be applied in our country as of 2013. Since this vaccine is not included in the vaccination calendar of the Ministry of Health, it is administered with the recommendation of physicians and the consent of the families. With this vaccine, which can be administered from the second month, we have succeeded in preventing the 4 types mentioned for the last six years. Due to its structural feature, the B type cannot be combined with other U types under a single vaccine. Since the beginning of 2019, vaccination against the most common type B, which is administered made with family approval, has started to be applied in our country. We recommend that the Type B vaccine be administered to our babies from the second month. The earlier the vaccination program is started, the sooner the protection begins.