BENIGN bugs that live in the noses of many infants have inspired a much-needed vaccine against a deadly form of meningitis.
Based on the bacterium Neisseria lactamica, the prototype vaccine is showing promise against group B meningococcal meningitis and septicaemia, the potentially fatal blood poisoning that often accompanies meningitis. There is no reliable vaccine against the bacteria at present.
Britain introduced a vaccine in November 1999 against group C meningococcal meningitis—the other major form of the disease afflicting industrialised countries. “The Department of Health estimates that at least 50 lives have been saved by it,” says Andy Gorringe, head of…
