Meningitis vaccines in Europe?

[jenniferlynne]

My family moved to Europe (Luxembourg) about six months ago, and when I took my kids (3 and 6) in for their first doctor visit, the pediatrician recommended they be vaccinated against meningitis. I was surprised since I know that vaccine isn't given in the U.S. till kids are much older, but she told me they do see a number of cases of it in young children here so they recommend the vax at 13 months.

I don't know anything about this vaccine at all and don't really know where to look. From checking vaccination schedules in various countries, I see that it's recommended in Luxembourg, Belgium and Germany but not in France.

Does anyone know where I can learn more about this vaccine? I'm not opposed to vaxing my kids, particularly against something as terrifying as meningitis, but I like to do my homework first.

Thanks!

[Marnica]

are you asking about menactra? (that's what it's called in the US anyway).

There are several "meningitis" vaxes given to infants on the schedule in the US. The HIB and prevnar are both marketed to prevent meningitis caused by certain strains of bacteria.

[Asiago]

Hmmm, I'm not sure either, as meningitis is a condition or symptom of various diseases, not a disease itself. It's inflammation on a specific part (brain/spinal cord membrane).
Many of the diseases- measles, mumps, H. influenzae, even rotavirus can have meningitis condition associated with it.

[Emmeline II]

• Pneumococcal
• Meningococcal

[jenniferlynne]

Thanks for the responses.

Let me provide a little more info: The vaccine they're recommending is not the HIB or Prevnar or Menactra, though maybe it's similar to that last one. It's called Men C which is Meningococcal meningitis Conjugate C vaccine. They also do Hib and a pneumococcal one (PCV 7?) separately in addition to the Men C.

Here's the vax schedule for Luxembourg:

http://www.ssi.dk/graphics/euvac/vac...uxembourg.html

I find it interesting that vax schedules can vary between such closely connected countries. If I drove 20 minutes, I'd be in France where they don't give a meningitis vaccine!

[Deborah]

That is sort of bizarrely funny. So much for herd immunity!

[jenniferlynne]

It is kind of funny, isn't it? Luxembourg is so tiny I can drive to France in 20 minutes, Belgium in 15, and Germany in about half an hour. I'm surprised the vaccination schedule isn't the same for all these countries!

In doing a little googling, I found this Men C info sheet from the UK:

http://www.medinfo.co.uk/immunisations/meningitisc.html

So it looks like this vaccine is only for type C, whereas Menactra, the one in the U.S., covers four different strains.

I also discovered that Men C is given in Canada as well, at 2 months, 12 months and again at 11-12 years of age.

Anyone have experience with this vax?

[luckymamaoftwo]

I'm not knowledgeable about when the meningococcal vaccine is given in the U.S. but I am very knowledgeable about how devastating the disease is, and would therefore be an advocate for the importance of the vaccine.

My older sister was stricken with meningococcal meningitis when she was a sophomore in college. She was on the brink of losing her life, and instead lost both her legs above the knee, part of a thumb, a pinkie and several large chunks of her skin (where they did skin grafts). She is very, very lucky to be alive. It's an awful, horrible illness and children were NOT routinely vaccinated 13 years ago. My mother had to fight tooth and nail to get me vaccinated when I ventured to college, some 3 years after my sister was sick.

[SC_Jan]

I was vaccinated as an exchange student in Wales against Type C when we had an occurrance on campus. The first student to fall ill had an outcome very similar to the previous poster (so sorry such a major illness happened in her family ). I was 22 so it's not a great comparison to your LO, but had no problems. I can't give you any specific vaccine info but I'm sure these researching mamas will come up with some good stuff for you.

[jenniferlynne]

LuckyMama, wow, that is absolutely terrible about your sister. What a scary disease!!

SC: Thanks for sharing your experience.

I went ahead and got the vaccination for my kids. I know it certainly doesn't provide complete protection against meningitis but it's such a scary disease that anything that could help prevent it is worth doing, IMO.

BTW, they had absolutely no side effects whatsoever from the shot.