Meningitis cases fell drastically in 2021 due to anti-Covid measures

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The measures against Covid have protected us from other diseases, such as bacterial meningitis.

The incidence of invasive meningococcal disease

(2019/2020), as stated in a recent report by the National Epidemiology Center, belonging to the Carlos III Health Institute.

In the 20/21 season, a total of 64 cases were confirmed in Spain (41 in men and 23 in women), a figure significantly lower than that of the previous year.

The incidence decreased in all ages and in all types of the disease, says the analysis, which confirms

Two of the deceased had serogroup B infection, while in the other two cases the serogroup causing the lethal infection is unknown.

During the 2020/2021 season, no deaths associated with serogroups W or Y were recorded. Invasive meningococcal disease is a disease caused by the bacterium 'Neisseria meningitidis'.

In total,

have been described , although most cases are caused by types B, C, W, X and Y. Specifically, in Spain serogroups B, W, Y and C are mainly detected.

The report attributes the drastic reduction to a number of factors, although it underlines that the prevention measures implemented to curb Covid infections -such as the use of masks- have been a fundamental cause of the reduction.

In addition, the analysis cites the possible impact of the "increase in vaccination coverage of the quadrivalent conjugate vaccine (Men ACWY) in adolescents", whose importance, however, has not been fully assessed as it coincides with the establishment of measures to contain the Covid, point to the text.

On the other hand, the document also acknowledges that "surveillance limitations" may have occurred in this period, which may have also affected the decrease detected.

According to Federico Martinón, head of Pediatrics at the University Clinical Hospital of Santiago and researcher at the Center for Biomedical Research in the Respiratory Diseases Network (CIBERES), as has happened in other respiratory transmission disorders, the spread of meningococcal disease has been affected by non-pharmacological measures to control the pandemic.

However, he stresses,

.

In some countries, such as the United Kingdom, a number of cases similar to that of the years prior to Covid are already being counted, he warns.

The incidence of invasive meningococcal disease has been variable in recent years.

Between 1996 and 2014, a significant decrease in cases of the disorder was observed, mainly due to the establishment of vaccination against 'N.

meningitidis' of serogroup C. However, just in the years prior to the arrival of Covid, throughout Europe and also in Spain there was an increase in incidence, due to an

Y.

"With the return to normality, diseases such as meningococcal, which had been reduced, are going to return," says Martinón, who stresses that to keep this disorder under control, what is necessary is to implement the most complete vaccination schedule throughout Spain

.

Today, in our country there is "great inequity in this regard," continues the pediatrician, who regrets that there are

against meningococcal.

Having the widest possible vaccination "is the path to a world free of meningitis in 2030, as the WHO has proposed," he concludes.

The bacterium that causes invasive meningococcal disease

through secretions from the respiratory tract and after close and continuous contact.

Some people can be asymptomatic carriers of the pathogen (a percentage that ranges between 5-11% among adults and can reach more than 25% among adolescents).

However, "less than 1% of colonized people progress to invasive disease."

The highest incidence of the disease occurs in children under 1 year of age, although a second peak of the disease occurs among adolescents and young adults.

The signs of acute disease are varied, although the most common manifestations are meningitis and sepsis, which can be fatal and leave serious sequelae.

In about 20-25% of affected people, the disease results in hearing impairment, amputations, moderate or mild cognitive impairment, and epilepsy.

The progression of the disease is usually rapid, with a fatality rate between 8 and 15%.

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• Infectious diseases