A vaccine that could save your teenager's life
The stories sound chillingly similar. A healthy teenager comes down with what seems like the flu, then gets rapidly weaker, spikes a high fever, starts vomiting and breaks out in a rash. By the time he or she gets to the hospital, infection is overwhelming the body's defenses and shutting down vital organs.
David Pasick, a 13-year-old in Wall Township, N.J., was dead in less than 24 hours. Evan Bozof, a Georgia college student, lingered for 26 days while doctors amputated all four limbs in a futile attempt to save him.
Meningococcal meningitis strikes just 1,400 to 2,800 Americans a year - but with terrifying speed and consequences. Roughly 10 percent of victims die, often hours after symptoms set in. About 15 percent of those who survive are left with brain damage, hearing loss or amputations; gangrene sets in rapidly if the disease disrupts blood flow to the limbs. Many victims are adolescents and college kids living away from home for the first time.
As a new TV ad points out, the disease is largely preventable with a vaccine called Menactra, licensed in the U.S. in 2005. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now recommends Menactra for all 11- to 18-year-olds. As of 2006, however, only 12 percent of those eligible had received the vaccine. Manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur, a unit of Sanofi-Aventis, expects the rate to rise to 50 percent this year. Even so, that leaves tens of millions of teenagers unprotected.
That's partly because adolescents tend to steer clear of the doctor's office. Says Carol J. Baker, a professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, "Parents start forgetting. Pediatricians don't nag them and schools don't require it."
The CDC is pushing the idea of an adolescent doctor visit to discuss a range of health issues as well as get the meningitis vaccine, a diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis booster and the human papilloma virus shot for girls.
Starting this fall, New Jersey will require sixth-graders to be vaccinated against meningococcal meningitis. Other states require college students to be vaccinated or sign a waiver saying that they have been informed and opted not to have it.
About 15 percent to 20 percent of the population carries the meningococcal bacterium without having any symptoms. But such carriers can transmit it to people who are more susceptible, via sneezing, coughing, kissing or sharing drinks or cigarettes. That's why the disease often hits people living in close quarters like college dorms and sleep-away camps. Teens who are run down and sleep-deprived are especially vulnerable, and the lack of supervision means that symptoms aren't always recognized early. "A parent would have that gut instinct that this isn't a simple flu - but a sorority sister or a roommate might not realize it," says Katherine Karlsrud, a New York City pediatrician.
Menactra lasts eight to 10 years and protects against four of the five strains of meningococcal meningitis. It's not made with live virus, nor does it contain the preservative thimerosal. The injection costs $80 to $100, but is covered by most insurers. Side effects are minimal. Some people have pain and swelling at the injection site, and a handful have come down with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a neurological disorder, after receiving Menactra.
That worries vaccine critics, particularly when Menactra and the HPV vaccine are given together. "Where are the studies that look at whether or not this is a healthy thing to do over the long term?" asks Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder of the National Vaccine Information Center, a nonprofit activist group. She notes that the government now recommends 69 doses of 16 different vaccines for kids between 12 hours and 18 years old - triple the number in the 1980s.
Paul Offit, chief of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia, says that even if a link to GBS were proven, "you have a 20-fold greater chance of getting meningococcal meningitis without the vaccine than of getting GBS from the vaccine."
Getting vaccinated "isn't always at the top of people's priorities, or kids say, 'oooh, I don't like shots,"' says Melanie Benn, 31, who lost a kidney, both arms and both legs to the disease in 1995. "But people need to know that this exists and, by the way, you can prevent it."