Posted on 02/10/2006 7:32:38 PM PST by andie74
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In adolescents, intimate kissing with multiple partners, attending college, and a history of preceding illness are independent risk factors for meningococcal disease, whereas religious observance and meningococcal vaccination are tied to reduced risks, new research shows.
Meningococcal disease -- a bacterial infection of the fluid within the tissues surrounding the brain and spinal cord -- is largely a disease affecting children younger than 5 years, although in recent years both the US and UK have seen rising rates among teens.
This trend served as a major stimulus for the development of the meningococcal vaccine, which has proven highly successful.
Exactly why the incidence of meningococcal disease peaks again around the adolescent years is unclear. Several studies have looked at risk factors for this disease in teenagers, but most have been limited to certain subgroups or included subject numbers.
As reported in the British Medical Journal, Dr. Joanna Tully, from the University of London, and colleagues compared sociodemographics, lifestyle, and medical factors in 144 teenagers with menincogoccal disease and an equal number of healthy controls of similar age. Blood samples as well as throat and nasal swabs were obtained from all subjects.
Overall, 114 of the 144 "case patients" were confirmed as having meningococcal disease with microbiologic tests.
Intimate kissing with multiple partners and preterm birth were the strongest independent risk factors for meningococcal disease, each raising the risk 3.7-fold. Being a college student and a history of preceding illness increased the odds 3.4- and 2.9-fold, respectively.
Attending one or more religious ceremonies in the 2 weeks before illness was associated with a 90 percent reduced risk of meningococcal disease. Similarly, receipt of the meningococcal vaccine cut the risk of disease by 88 percent.
The results suggest that "changing personal behaviors could reduce the risk of meningococcal disease in adolescence," the authors state. Still, behavior-based health promotion messages are unlikely to have a major impact on disease rates in this group, they concede. "The development of further effective meningococcal vaccines therefore remains a key public health priority."
SOURCE: British Medical Journal, February 9, 2006.
Hmmm...can't we just say MORALITY had something to do with the reduced risk?
Ping!
You just shouldn't go around kissing inmates, anyway.
And masturbation causes blindness.
JUNK SCIENCE
LOL!
Well, I didn't have anything to worry about.
Do I still?
Kissing is a sign of increased morality. Sex often lacks it.
Indiscriminate kissing as a sign of morality?
Not in this house.
DISCUSSION ABOUT:
"Intimate kissing raises teen's risk of meningitis"
And yes, I do have a pretty good idea of the direction this thread will be heading in! -:)
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I wish I had faced an increased risk of meningitis as a teenager.
I think teens go a little past the kissing routine these days, so why aren't those behaviors addressed as a possible link?
Waitaminit! I just remembered, 'those' behaviors are considered 'SAFE SEX'!
Good Lord! With a regimen like that, Typhoid Mary would have just been Mary.
Ooooh, imagine that. Vaccinations help reduce the risk, too.
This also just in: Moon NOT made of green cheese!!!!
Thank you, Capt. Obvious for that public service announcement. And now for a healthy shot of thimoserol...
If you catch two strains of mono, it's called stereo
Sky falling? Must be...
Again, everything I needed to know about life I learned in Kindergarten.
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