The introduction of two preventive vaccines and a new treatment for bacterial meningitis has led to a large drop in prevalence and mortality of the disease, according to a study in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
Researchers from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston analyzed a national inpatient database of more than 50,000 people treated for bacterial meningitis between 1997 and 2010 in the United States.
Streptococcus pneumoniae is the leading cause of bacterial meningitis, but between 1997 and 2010 there was a 63 percent drop in reported cases, researchers found. Additionally, there was an 86 percent decrease in bacterial meningitis caused by Neisseria meningitidis in that 14-year span.
The researchers tied the major decreases in bacterial meningitis cases to the development of two vaccines, released in 2000 and 2005, as well as an adjuvant treatment known as dexamethasone.