The general public must get
vaccinated against meningitis every five years because the
vaccine doesn't last as long as commonly believed, doctors heard
at a medical congress Thursday.
The warning came after two women died of meningitis in
Tuscany earlier this week.
"The anti-meningitis vaccine does not provide coverage for
decades as we thought, but must be repeated every five years,"
Italian General and Primary Medicine Society President Claudio
Cricelli told the society's 33rd national congress in Florence.
"We're studying the meningitis problem in Tuscany in detail,
because it's a scientific novelty," he added.
"We still don't know why these strains are particularly
virulent, we don't understand the model of propagation and most
importantly, why they are striking Tuscany so prevalently".
Cricelli said regional authorities have been extremely prompt
in their handling of the outbreak.
"In any case, we must urge all citizens - including those not
considered at risk - to get vaccinated," the doctor told the
medical congress.
Last Tuesday, a 64-year-old retired teacher Lilia Agata
Caputo died in the Tuscan town of Viareggio almost a month after
being admitted to hospital with meningitis.
The previous Monday a 45-year-old woman died of sepsis from
meningitis C in Florence's Santa Maria Nuova Hospital.
Meningitis is highly contagious and can be rapidly fatal if
left untreated. The maximum incubation period for the meningitis
bacteria is 10 days.
Tuscany and the bordering region of Emilia Romagna have seen
a number of meningitis cases since 2015, some of them fatal.
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