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Disease Trends

Decrease in Meningococcal Group C

The successful phased introduction of the meningococcal serogroup C conjugate vaccine (MCC) in 1999 into the National Immunisation programme in the UK has greatly reduced Group C disease, as shown below. The effectiveness of the vaccine is such that herd immunity to Meningitis C has been identified in age groups who have not been vaccinated, as bacterium carriage rates are reduced across the population.

NB: Data includes PCR confirmed reports in addition to culture confirmed isolates. **Provisional data for 2004/05.

Source: PHLS Meningococcal Reference Unit

Current Prevalence of Meningococcal Group B

Meningococcal Group B is now responsible for almost 90% of laboratory confirmed cases. There is still no vaccine available to protect against this strain of the disease.

Source: PHLS Meningococcal Reference Unit

Prevalence of Bacterial Meningitis (without Septicaemia) by Age Group

This graph shows the high number of notifications of meningococcal and pneumococcal meningitis (without septicaemia) cases in the ‘under 4 years' and ‘15-24 years' age groups. It also illustrates that cases within the ‘under 4 years' age group peak at ‘under 1 years'. It is also interesting to note that the pneumococcal meningitis peaks again in the older age groups (45-64 and 65+).

Source: NOIDS England & Wales Final Midi Report for 2005 (Table 3 - Final totals for 2005 by sex and age-group)

Prevalence of Bacterial Meningitis and Septicaemia by Age Group

The same ‘peaks' in the number of notifications for the ‘under 4 years' and '15-24' age groups can also be seen with meningococcal septicaemia.

Source: NOIDS England & Wales Final Midi Report for 2005 (Table 3 - Final totals for 2005 by sex and age-group)

Mortality Rate in Children in Comparison to Adults

The statistics in this chart are presented as ‘rate per million' to counteract the influence of population variations. It is evident from this graph that the mortality rate is consistently higher for children than it is for adults but the rate for both groups has steadily declined since 1996 with an apparent increased rate of decline since 1999/2000.

NB: 1. Excludes deaths in babies aged under 28 days. 2. Figures selected using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes 036, 047, 320 and 322 for 2000, and Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes A39, A87, and G00-G03 for 2001 onwards. 3. Figures are for deaths occurring in each calendar year.

Source: Office for National Statistics

High Mortality Rate of Meningococcal Septicaemia (without Meningitis)

Cases where septicemia alone is diagnosed result in the highest number of Case Fatality Rates (CFR) for all epidemiological years, as shown below. Cases of meningitis alone result in the next highest CFR, followed by diagnosed cases of meningitis and septicaemia together.

Source: HPA - Enhanced Surveillance of Meningococcal Disease National Annual Report: July 2002-June 2003

If you would like any further clarification on the above or to request specific statistics, please telephone 0117 373 73 73 or email our Grants Administrator, Angela Davies-Smith