# Meningitis questions **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 1, 2004, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meningitis-questions/248139 "2004-06-01T20:57:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![artemis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@artemis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/artemis)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2004, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meningitis-questions/248139/21 "2004-06-03T02:50:52Z")
> [@MelCthefirst](#): > > So is the vaccine for viral not bacterial? The vaccine being discussed in this thread is for one type of bacterial meningitis (meningococcus). There are also vaccines available for the other two most common causes of bacterial meningitis - pneumococcus and HiB. Viral meningitis can be caused by a wide variety of different viruses, and so there’s no specific vaccine for it. ---
**Author:** ![MelCthefirst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@MelCthefirst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MelCthefirst)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2004, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meningitis-questions/248139/22 "2004-06-03T20:16:40Z")
> [@artemis](#): > > The vaccine being discussed in this thread is for one type of bacterial meningitis (meningococcus). There are also vaccines available for the other two most common causes of bacterial meningitis - pneumococcus and HiB. > > Viral meningitis can be caused by a wide variety of different viruses, and so there’s no specific vaccine for it. Can the vaccine be used on babies and children? I’m just wondering why we don’t have it widely available here, when we have a meingitis (meningococcus mostly I think) problem. ---
**Author:** ![tsarina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@tsarina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsarina)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2004, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meningitis-questions/248139/23 "2004-06-03T20:46:45Z")
> [@Lilliphe](#): > > I have two questions for the experts, one more related ot the OP than the other 😉 > > 1. First question is a three part question. As some of you have mentioned, and as I have heard, some people carry the bacteria around in their throats where it is harmless until it manages to get under the skin through a wound, or a weakened immune system. First part of the question is: Is it MOST people, SOME people, or ALL people have this? And also, is there a way to determine if you carry it? At my lab, we’ll often get a culture from someone who might be carrying gonorrhea in their throat, and since meningitis is a close relative of gonorrhea, meningitis colonies show up on the selective media. Based on this, I’d estimate that around 20-25% of people carry it in their throats. Unless I swabbed your throat and incubated the sample on Thayer-Martin media, I wouldn’t know if you carry it or not. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![artemis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@artemis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/artemis)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meningitis-questions/248139/24 "2004-06-04T02:25:59Z")
> [@MelCthefirst](#): > > Can the vaccine be used on babies and children? > I’m just wondering why we don’t have it widely available here, when we have a meingitis (meningococcus mostly I think) problem. Most sporadic cases of meningococcal meningitis (outside of domatory/army barracks settings) are caused by the group B serotype, and unfortunately we don’t have a vaccine for that serotype. And while the group C meningococcal vaccine can be used on kids, I don’t know how effective it is on infants - it may not induce much immunity in them. I suspect those reasons are why the vaccine isn’t being used much in that population. The BIG cause of bacterial meningitis in the under-5 set used to be type B Hemophilus influenzae; now that the HiB vaccine is widely used, we rarely see meningitis caused by Hemophilus anymore. I hope the day will come when we’ll be able to say the same thing about meningococcal meningitis, but unfortunately it’s not here yet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meningitis-questions/248139.md?page=1)