meningitis

Each year the recommended childhood and adolescent vaccine schedules are reviewed, adjusted and approved. The 2017 revisions are now available, and here are some of the recent changes affecting everyone from infants to those up to the age.   
The FDA approved a DNA screening test of cerebrospinal fluid that can tell a physician in under an hour if a patient has viral or bacterial meningitis. If you are familiar with the differences between these two types -- one of which can be fatal -- you know this is a big deal.
In his recent opinion piece published in the New York Post, ACSH friend and former trustee (and former FDA official) Dr. Henry Miller questions the FDA s decision to grant permission for expanded access to
As Oliver Hardy often said to Stan Laurel, "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into! We wonder if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is thinking the same about the FDA. Because in order to protect students at Princeton University from a particular strain of bacterial meningitis, the CDC had to get special permission from the FDA to import Novartis Bexsero from Europe and Australia. Bexsero is the only vaccine that is effective against the strain (serotype B) that is causing trouble at Princeton. Why was this necessary? Because the FDA has not approved the vaccine in the U.S.
If you need another reminder about the importance of vaccinations, just look to the events of this past weekend. A Wisconsin college student and a Los Angeles man died of meningitis, and the New York City Department of Health issued an alert stating that five measles cases occurred in Borough Park, Brooklyn this past month in children who had not been vaccinated. They also followed up saying that a large number of exposures occurred throughout the community and more cases are expected.