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The most revealing aspect I learned about meningitis was it is extremely lethal and I did not even realize it has been around since the 1800s. One thing that surprised me was there are several Serogroup of meningitis which made it extremely difficult for scientists to generate an effective vaccine. One thing I came across in my research that should have been in the Padlet assignment is the neurological effects of the disease. Several scientists explained survivors of meningitis experienced a decreased IQ, speech, and communication which was directly linked to the disease. Overall, I find it haunting that a bacterial disease can be both life threatening when one has the disease and after the disease has past.

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Meningitis is extremely contagious and can have long-lasting after effects. The effects include seizures, loss of hearing, limb weakness, difficulties with vision, speech, and communication. With this, vaccination and antibiotics in hopes of prevention have been quickly implemented in hopes to decrease spread. Especially in the African meningitis belt, there is an emphasis towards immunization program and utilizing chemoprophylaxis to prevent further transmission. Overall, there is more societal pressures to get regularly vaccinated and tested within younger age groups because symptoms are not always apparent. Also, many corporations, like MOSAIC, have actively done more research towards the neurological effects of meningitis and there is still much to learn about the disease. Much of the information and statistics known towards the lethality of meningitis has become more apparent today and many are continuously searching of ways of prevention. None of societies behaviors changed, but many took the disease more seriously once we learned the long lasting effects of meningitis. Focusing on the physical effect, society has learned meningitis is highly contagious and can be detrimental to one’s immune system.

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Center for Disease Control and prevention heavily handled meningococcal development in 1997 and updated the meningococcal conjugate vaccine and a routine of the use of the vaccine. In 2014, CDC further issued interim guidance to control the serogroup B meningococcal disease outbreaks in organizational setting before the licensure of the vaccine. The most recent initiative is the FDA approved vaccine MenACWY which can be administered to 2 years of age and older being the first and only quadrivalent vaccine that uses tetanus toxoid as a protein carrier. Officials were quick to search for a vaccine to hinder 4 serogroup, but meningococcal disease is very unpredictable and symptoms vary across regions and areas. With this, there is still much to learn about the disease.

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Once the first huge case of meningococcal spread, health care workers were quick to produce a vaccine to prevent further growth of the disease. They first implemented a polysaccharide-protein vaccine that has a longer lasting immunity and prevent carriage which reduced transmission increasing herd immunity. Health care officials further created a vaccine which protects against meningococcal in all ages but were found to be weakly protective for infants. Within the medical community, they created a new advance approach within a more community based organization called WHO. Their focus is to resolve all cases of meningitis through the elimination of the bacteria, reducing cases of vaccine preventable meningitis by 50% and deaths by 70%, and reducing the disability and improve quality of life after meningitis. Overall their initiative is to eradicate meningitis by 2030. The most recent new technology towards meningitis is a FDA approved vaccine called MenQuadifi that can even be used for persons 2 years of age, and the vaccine has demonstrated a high immune response across all four serogroups for multiple ages. Also, this is the only quadrivalent meningococcal vaccine in the US that is in a ready-to-use liquid formulation allowing health care providers to avoid vaccine reconstitution.

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Virulence can be described as the degree a pathogenic organism can cause a disease. In other words, the ability for a microorganism to cause damage to a host. Meningococcal disease has a high mortality rate in children and young adults worldwide with high virulence factors. These factors include capsule polysaccharide expression (structure found on cell surface), expression of surface adhesive proteins, iron sequestration mechanisms, and endotoxin (toxin present in bacterial cell). In fact, N. Meningitis evolved genetic mechanism allowing the organism to adapt at mucosal surfaces and invade hosts. Overall, meningococcal disease is highly virulent and causes deaths in high quantities yearly.

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Red areas are regions with highest outbreaks. 

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Meningococcal disease started in Valencia and became worldwide with the highest incidence of the disease in sub-Saharan Africa where large cases happen every 5-12 years. In this specific region, known as the ‘meningitis belt’, there is estimated 1,000 to 100,000 cases per population. Starting in 2010, mass vaccinations began to be implemented in these areas. The exact timeline is unclear, but after the discovery in the early 1800s, the disease is said to have caused over 100 deaths per year.

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In 1887, meningococcal was said to be first detected in Vienna after Anton Weichselbaum analyzed a patient’s cerebrospinal fluid infected with meningitis. The infectious agent is said to be a human-specific bacteria which is commonly carried in the nose and throat causing a series of other infections including pneumonia, septic arthritis, and urethritis. Meningococcal is considered a category B infectious disease meaning it can not cause permanent disability or be seriously life threatening when exposure occurs.

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Neisseria meningitidis, common name, meningococcus, is the infectious agent which causes the disease Meningococcal or meningitis. The first described outbreak of the disease was in Geneva, by Gaspard Vieusseux a “pioneer” of neurological disorders, in 1805.