Cases involving a certain strain of meningitis have fallen after the introduction of a nationwide vaccination campaign for babies and teenagers.

Figures compiled in Leeds for the region reveal there was only one confirmed case of type C meningitis in a child under one in the first 12 weeks of this year - compared with six at the same time last year.

And in the same period, there were only two cases of the same strain in 15 to 17-year-olds, compared with ten in 1999.

These two age groups have already been targeted by infection control specialists for jabs against the disease, with the immunisation programme set to include other children throughout this year.

But regional figures have also revealed that incidences of the B strain of the disease - for which there is no vaccine - doubled this winter among babies. In the first 12 weeks of this year, 25 under-ones had the B strain of meningococcal disease - which can cause meningitis or septicaemia - compared with 12 in 1999.

The figure was reduced from eight to only two in the 15 to 17 age group, but in other age groups the number of cases of B strain meningitis rose from 42 to 61.

In Bradford, health chiefs set up special sessions at a nightclub and at the Boots store in the city centre in a bid to increase the number of teenagers coming forward for immunisation. Although high numbers of schoolchildren were having the jabs, fewer than 20 per cent of those no longer in full-time education had attended immunisation clinics.

Health chiefs sent letters to almost 10,000 teenagers telling them about immunisation clinics, but about 1,000 youngsters turned up.

Dr Ebere Okereke, senior registrar in public health medicine at the Northern and Yorkshire Public Health Laboratory, said there was a clear reduction in the proportion of infants and 15 to 17-year-olds with group C meningococcal disease.

Philip Kirby, chief executive of the National Meningitis Trust, said: "We know the devastation this disease can cause in families. These latest figures are proof that the vaccination programme is making a real difference."

He said the trust's 24-hour helpline had been inundated with calls since the vaccination programme started nationally last November. But he warned that the B strain of meningitis still accounted for about 60 per cent of cases nationwide.

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