title: Consensus recommendation for meningococcal disease prevention in children and adolescents in the Middle East region.
abstract: Facing the availability of the new generation of quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate vaccines (Menveo®, Menactra® and others pending for license) and their recent implementation in Saudi Arabia, experts from 11 countries of the Middle East region met at a "Meningococcal Leadership Forum" (MLF), which took place in May 2010 in Dubai. The participants of the conference discussed the importance of introducing the concept of conjugate vaccines - especially for children and adolescents - and elaborated a consensus recommendation to support healthcare professionals and decision makers with their expertise. In experts' opinion, conjugate vaccines are the best choice for the prevention of meningococcal disease caused by serogroups A, C, W-135 and Y. As quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate vaccines are registered and available in the Middle East region, they should replace plain polysaccharide vaccines and be integrated in pediatric and adolescent vaccination schedules, including infant vaccination concomitantly with basic EPI vaccines when licensed.
authors.affiliation: King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. amshibl@ksu.edu.sa
authors.forename: Atef
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shibl
authors.forename: Haysam
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tufenkeji
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khalil
authors.forename: Ziad
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Memish
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D032921:Consensus; D003906:Developing Countries; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008589:Meningococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D022401:Meningococcal Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008877:Middle East; D011322:Primary Prevention / Q000592:standards*; D018074:Vaccines, Conjugate / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D022401:Meningococcal Vaccines; D018074:Vaccines, Conjugate
keywords: Conjugate; Consensus recommendation; Invasive meningococcal disease; Middle East countries; Vaccine