Report On Meningococcal Disease-Free-Samples-Myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Write a report on Meningococcal Disease. Answer: The student was correct in mentioning that meningococcal disease is a serious bacterial infection caused due toNeisseria meningitides. The prevalence of the disease is indeed highest among adolescents in the UK. The information in regards to the prevalence of the disease among adolescents was correctly presented. An immediate pre-admission management is recommended by the Health Protection Agency (Gov.uk 2017). The student gathered adequate surveillance data regarding the incidence of meningitis B in England from 1966-1999. In addition to the information provided, the government regulations also recommend immediate administration of antibiotics to people with suspected meningococcal disease in cases where urgent transfer of children and adolescents to hospital is not possible. The content presented by the student can be supported by the fact that parenteral antibiotic therapy that includes administration of benzylpenicillin should be followed (Halperin et al. 2012). Although, the student provided information only on the introduction of vaccines in England to combat against the disease, it can be suggested that ciprofloxacin and rifampicin were initially the most widely used antibiotics used in the UK. However, certain disadvantages related to interaction with oral contraceptives and induced arthropathy prevented their usage. Thus, vaccinations were developed to provide protection against the disease in the UK (Dwilow and Fanella 2015). The written information can gain support by the fact that the government health departments ensure that adequate surveillance and disease prevention programmes are present in the healthcare settings. The Health Protection (Notification) Regulations (2010) has made it a mandatory legal requirement for all diagnostic laboratories in England to notify the HPA, on identification of infections. This provides further support to the information already reported by the student. The guidelines proposed by the UK government propose to offer prophylaxis of people who live in the same household as the infected person, within the first seven days of the diagnosis of the infection (Legislation.gov.uk 2017). In addition, the student demonstrated adequate knowledge and data collection skills in talking about the introduction of vaccines for meningitis B and ACWY. The newly discovered meningitis B vaccines are indeed used among adolescents and teenagers to prevent the invasive disease caused due to serogroup B (Christensen et al. 2013). Although the vaccine for meningitis ACWY was introduced in 2015, they have proved to be highly effective against serious infections, which are caused due to 4 meningococcal groups A, C, W and Y. A sugar coating present on the surface of the different bacterial types that cause the disease is found in the vaccine, which triggers antibody production. This is consistent with the findings of the student. However, they should not be administered to pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers or individuals with life threatening allergies (Ladhani et al. 2012). To conclude, it can be stated that adequate and correct information was presented while writing about the incidence and transmission of the life-threatening infection meningococcal disease. The student was successful in correctly stating that although it is a notifiable disease in the UK, preadmission management, chemoprophylaxis and administration of recently discovered meningitis B and ACWY vaccines can help in reducing the prevalence rates of the disease. References Christensen, H., Hickman, M., Edmunds, W.J. and Trotter, C.L., 2013. Introducing vaccination against serogroup B meningococcal disease: an economic and mathematical modelling study of potential impact.Vaccine,31(23), pp.2638-2646. Dwilow, R. and Fanella, S., 2015. Invasive meningococcal disease in the 21st centuryan update for the clinician.Current neurology and neuroscience reports,15(3), p.2. Gov.uk (2017).Meningococcal disease: guidance, data and analysis - GOV.UK. [online] Gov.uk. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/meningococcal-disease-guidance-data-and-analysis [Accessed 20 Nov. 2017]. Halperin, S.A., Bettinger, J.A., Greenwood, B., Harrison, L.H., Jelfs, J., Ladhani, S.N., McIntyre, P., Ramsay, M.E. and Sfadi, M.A., 2012. The changing and dynamic epidemiology of meningococcal disease.Vaccine,30, pp.B26-B36. Ladhani, S.N., Flood, J.S., Ramsay, M.E., Campbell, H., Gray, S.J., Kaczmarski, E.B., Mallard, R.H., Guiver, M., Newbold, L.S. and Borrow, R., 2012. Invasive meningococcal disease in England and Wales: implications for the introduction of new vaccines.Vaccine,30(24), pp.3710-3716. Legislation.gov.uk (2017).The Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010. [online] Legislation.gov.uk. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/659/regulation/5/made [Accessed 20 Nov. 2017].