Serogroup B Meningococcal Vacine May Help Against Disease

American Academy of Pediatrics: In 2013-2014 an outbreak of serogroup B meningococcal (MenB) disease occurred at a University in New Jersey, affecting seven undergraduate students and a visiting high school student. Because there was no MenB vaccine available in the United States, the Food and Drug Administration authorized the use of an investigational vaccine to control the outbreak. A study, “First Use of a Serogroup B Meningococcal Vaccine in the US in Response to a University Outbreak” published in the May 2015 issue of Pediatrics (published online April 27), found that none of the 5,502 at-risk people who received one or more doses of the vaccine, developed the disease. This suggested the vaccine may have helped protect the vaccinated people from meningococcal disease. However, a ninth unvaccinated person who had close contact with the university’s undergraduates developed a fatal case of serogroup B meningococcal disease after the vaccination campaign, suggesting that vaccinated individuals may still be carriers of serogroup B meningococcal bacteria.

Corticosteroids for the treatment of parasitic eosinophilic meningitis

Cochrane: Do corticosteroids reduce inflammation in the membrane of the brain caused by parasites? Eosinophilic meningitis is an inflammation of the membrane covering the brain, the causes of which can be broadly categorised into infectious and non-infectious. Among the infectious aetiologies, Angiostrongylus cantonensis, a rat lung worm, is the major cause of eosinophilic meningitis.