A study involving teenagers from Brighton and researchers from Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) has found giving a meningitis vaccine to 14 to 19-year-olds helps protect people of all ages.

More than 24,000 teenagers took part in the ‘Be on the TEAM’ study, including more than 1,400 from four schools in the Brighton area. The study involved researchers taking throat swabs to look for MenACWY and MenB, and immunising teenagers with the MenB vaccine. Part of this study was stopped early due to Covid-19 and school closures, however swab results from the teenagers were still very useful to look at how many carried the Meningocccous bacteria compared to how many carried the bacteria in a previous study four years earlier, before introduction of the MenACWY vaccine.

The vaccine was given to teenagers as this is where transmission of the meningococcal bacteria is known to be highest and could generate herd protection, or herd immunity.

Dr Katy Fidler, Consultant in Paediatric Infectious Diseases, Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital, University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, and Reader at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, was the local Principal Investigator on the study and one of the study authors. 

She said: “It was a huge privilege for my colleagues at the Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital and I to work with partners including local secondary schools and Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust to deliver this important study.

“I’m delighted to see that this study has demonstrated such positive results, showing that the MenACWY vaccine is key to reducing the number of teenagers carrying the meningococcus bacteria in their throat. This in turn has contributed to the reduction in the overall incidence of people carrying the meningococcus bacteria in all age groups, reducing the risk of people suffering from meningitis and sepsis due to these bacteria.

“It also gave myself, research nurse Rebecca Ramsay and a parent whose child had died from meningitis, the opportunity to go into the schools and talk to more than 2,000 teenagers  about the signs and symptoms of meningitis and sepsis, which provided an excellent opportunity to educate teenagers about health. 

“I would like to thank all the schools and young people in Brighton who took part in the study. This study shows how important it is for schools and the community to take part in research.”

Professor Nick Lemoine, Medical Director of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network said: “This NIHR-supported study has provided important data on the effectiveness of MenACWY vaccines in inducing population immunity against meningitis - which has been shown to protect all ages against this potentially life-threatening disease. We want to thank the incredible 24,000 teenage participants who took part for their contributions.”

The findings align with data from the UK showing the incidence of MenW disease has fallen in all age groups since the teenage MenACWY vaccine campaign. Researchers found the MenACWY vaccine substantially reduced carriage of the W and Y meningococcal groups, which cause the disease, and sustained low levels of the C group.

Taken together these data provide strong evidence for the need to target age groups with high rates of meningococcal transmission to make most effective use of these vaccines, and not necessarily immunising other age groups at high risk.