Facts

• It kills about 10 percent to 15 percent of those infected. People can carry and spread the bacteria without becoming sick themselves.
  
  
• At any time, 10 to 15 percent of the population can carry the bacteria and not get ill.
  
  
• At least 1.2 million cases of bacterial meningitis are estimated to occur every year with 135,000 of these cases being fatal.
  
  
• The death range for meningococcal meningitis is from 5% to 15%; with young children and adults over 50 having the highest death rate.
  
  
• Each year in Californian about 50 middle and high school age students contract bacteria and about 5 to 10 of them die from it
  
  
• In children younger than 9 about 200 get meningitis every year and 20 to 30 of them die
  
  
• There have been 4 meningitis cases in Berkeley in the past 5 years
  
  
• California has about 123 meningitis cases in 2000
  
  
• About 20 people each year get meningitis in Alameda County
  
  
• Statewide, the rate of infection has actually dropped from one case for every 10,000 people in 1996 to less than one per 100,000 in 2000
  
  
• 10 to 15 percent of meningitis cases are fatal
  
  
• 25 percent of patients who recover from meningitis have permanent damage to the nervous system
  
  
• In a given year, 4.5 children (per 100,000 population) between 1 month and 23 months will get meningococcal meningitis. The older you get, the more capable your body is of fighting off the infection.
  
  
• Bacterial meningitis is fairly uncommon, but can be extremely serious. It is fatal in one in 10 cases and one in 7 survivors is left with severe handicap, such as deafness or brain injury.
  
  
• The bacteria which cause both meningococcal and pneumococcal meningitis are very common and live naturally in the back of the nose and throat, or the upper respiratory tract.
  
  
• People of any age can carry these germs for days, weeks or months without becoming ill. In fact, being a carrier helps boost natural immunity to the disease. At any one time, around 10 to 25 per cent of the population are carriers. Only rarely do the bacteria overcome the body's defences and cause meningitis. --From the Meningitis Trust
  
  
• In 1999 there was about 3,500 reported cases of meningococcal meningitis and septicaemia in the UK. That means that about 5 people in every 100,000 of the population will be affected by meningococcal disease each year.

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