Against meningococcus B “all those at risk should undergo vaccination, indeed we should speak of vaccination obligation in this case”. Thus Massimo Andreoni, head of infectious disease at the Tor Vergata Polyclinic in Rome and scientific director of the Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases (Simit) on the occasion of the ‘World meningitis day’ that the Confederation of organizations against meningitis (CoMO) celebrates today, 5 October, all over the world. “Frailty is a very broad concept today – observes Andreoni – in fact we are able to cure many pathologies that in the past had no hope, but this also involves an increase in the number of people who are more exposed to the risk of contracting meningitis. Therefore I invite them to specialists, family doctors and pediatricians to propose to their patients to protect themselves, above all from the B strain “.
“There are many bacterial forms that can cause meningitis, the meningococcal one is very feared by us clinicians, because it leads to very serious cases. It is difficult to treat the impact on the patient, and the risk of death and very serious sequelae is very high”, he explains. The disease is rare but very serious: on average in Italy there are 2000 cases of meningococcal meningitis per year, about 200 the most serious. “It is a case almost every day – underlines Andreoni -. The correlated damages do not concern only physical impairments, which lead to highly disabling amputations, or to paralysis, but also important cognitive deficits. This is a very complex central nervous system disease to manage, which can evolve within hours. Important numbers that we can, however, reset with a very effective tool, which we must continually talk about “.
The appeal is aimed primarily at healthcare personnel. “If it is justifiable that people are not sufficiently informed to ask for vaccination, it is unacceptable that specialists, general practitioners, pediatricians do not invite vaccination – continues Andreoni -. We need to provide information: we see in fact that vaccinations against meningococcus do not yet reach the coverage rates required by the National Vaccine Prevention Plan. Instead, vaccination against meningococcus must be part of the patient’s management and be actively proposed if it has not been done “, he concludes.
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