Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Pharmacy - Department of Microbiology and Immunology

Meningitis is a serious infection that can cause severe damage to the brain and is fatal if untreated. Different types of bacteria can cause meningitis such as Streptococcus pneumonia, Neisseria meningitidis and haemophilus influenzae. Currently, there are vaccines for both N.meningitidis and H. influenzae type B. Administration of haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine is compulsory at 2,4,6 months with booster dose at 18 months meanwhile administration of meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine is recommended from 24 months and meningococcal conjugate vaccine from 12 months. We aimed to test if co-administration of these two vaccines (H. influenzae and meningococcal) might prove useful in prevention of meningitis. Our results showed that the Haeomphilus vaccine increased the antibody titer significantly on both serotypes W, Y when co-administrated with meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine while when co-administrated with conjugated meningitis vaccine the antibody titer for serogroups A, W, Y increased significantly. For serogroup C, there was no significant difference of the antibody titer between vaccines immunized groups. On the other hand, only meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine increased the antibody titer of Haeomphilus vaccine significantly when co-administered. In conclusion, our experiment showed that the co-administration of Haemophilus influenzae type b and meningococcal vaccines increased their immune responses than giving each one separat

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