drug development Vaccines – the unsung heroes


In the 1990s, Professor Adam Finn, from the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, was involved in a series of studies into the causes of meningitis C. This work led to a vaccine that has become part of the immunisation programme for young people.


Just over ten years since this began, there has been a complete disappearance of meningitis C, which at one stage had accounted for roughly 40 per cent of meningitis cases. However, despite this remarkable success, meningitis B is still ‘at large’, which has led to the current series of studies that researchers from the University of Bristol have been involved in. Te purpose of this study was to find


whether a vaccine could reduce meningitis disease by stopping transmission between the throats of young people. “Tere are a number of new vaccines being introduced to protect against meningitis caused by the


human rights history in the making


The Human Rights Implementation Centre is based in the School of Law at the University of Bristol. The centre develops expertise, advice and scholarship on the role of institutions in the implementation of human rights at a national, regional and international level.


THE CENTRE’S EXPERIENCE in organising events with representation from national human rights institutions (NHRI), politics and civil society meant it was ideally placed to bring together major players from last year’s ‘Arab Spring’. Tis event, which took place in Cairo in December 2011, gave representatives from NHRIs in Algeria, Egypt and Morocco, as well as civil society organisations in Egypt, Libya and Morocco, the opportunity to examine the role NHRIs can play when the usual political, judicial and other systems are disrupted.


Te seminar,


‘Strengthening the Capacities of National Human Rights Institutions in North Africa in Conflict and Post Conflict Situations’,


looked to investigate the role of NHRIs during and after times of conflict, when operating can become particularly difficult. Professor Murray:


Professor Rachel Murray, director


of the Human Rights Implementation Centre: “We were prompted to hold this event as a result of the Arab Spring and the impact that this had on national human rights institutions in north Africa. Given recent events in Egypt and Cairo, our event was particularly timely.”


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“NHRC Secretary General Ambassador Karem noted that the event had


demonstrated the strong determination of NHRI members to seize the momentum for change and spare no efforts in protecting the rights, freedoms and dignity of people across the region.”


• Above: Egyptian protesters out in force.


germ Neisseria meningitides,” says Professor Finn. “Different types of this bacterium can cause disease in people, but they all cause disease by spreading from person to person by ‘colonising’, or lodging in, the throat.” Now this may not be the kind of pre-


university information you wanted to read, but, rest assured, throat colonisation is very common amongst young adults, with about a quarter of them carrying the bacterium. Fortunately, only a tiny minority, about one in 10,000, will go on to develop meningitis. “We already know that when these


vaccines are injected into young adults, the blood produces antibodies that protect against meningitis,” continues Professor Finn. “But what we need to know is whether these vaccines can also act by stopping the Neisseria meningitides bacteria from colonising the throat. In this case, it is hoped that the vaccine will result in ‘herd immunity’ – where a vaccine works by altering the overall success of a pathogen


in spreading among a population. Tis type of research can have a very


direct influence on public health policy, and, as the success of the meningitis C vaccine has shown, researchers are able to enhance people’s lives in a positive way. Professor Finn concludes: “If you go to


the cinema and look around you, about half of the people you can see wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for vaccines – this kind of work doesn’t often get the credit it deserves!”


Above: Young people are particularly susceptible to meningitis.


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