Investigational MenB vaccine can protect individuals in outbreak

(HealthDay)—An investigational serogroup B meningococcal (MenB) vaccine seems to have protected vaccinated individuals from the disease during an outbreak, according to a study published online April 27 in Pediatrics.

Noting that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized use of an investigational MenB vaccine to control an outbreak of serogroup B meningococcal disease in 2013 to 2014 in a university in New Jersey, Lucy A. McNamara, Ph.D., from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and colleagues investigated the outbreak and response. Vaccination coverage data were collected during the vaccination campaign.

The researchers identified nine cases of serogroup B meningococcal disease between March 25, 2013, and March 10, 2014. For all eight isolates available, laboratory typing results were identical. In the target population, 89.1 percent coverage with the two-dose vaccination series was obtained through May 14, 2014. There were no additional cases of serogroup B meningococcal disease in students at the university from the initiation of MenB vaccination through Feb. 1, 2015. The ninth case occurred in an unvaccinated close contact of students from the university in March 2014.

"The outbreak investigation and highly successful vaccination campaign described here can serve as a model for how to approach similar outbreaks in the future," the authors write.

One author disclosed financial ties to Pfizer.