Peer-reviewed article
4CMenB vaccine coverage of invasive serogroup B meningococci collected in Belgium between 2016 and 2022.
Nathalie Goeders, Kevin Vanneste, Nancy H C Roosens, Bert Bogaerts, Wesley Mattheus ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study analysed 281 bacterial strains from meningitis cases in Belgium between 2016 and 2022 to see how well the 4CMenB vaccine would protect against circulating serogroup B meningococcal disease. The researchers used genetic sequencing to predict vaccine coverage, finding that the vaccine would likely protect against about 80% of the strains in circulation. Vaccine coverage remained stable across the study period and across different age groups, suggesting the vaccine maintains broad protection despite the bacteria's genetic diversity.
Key points
- 79.5% of 281 meningococcal serogroup B strains were predicted to be covered by the 4CMenB vaccine using gMATS analysis
- 80.7% of strains were predicted to be covered using MenDeVAR analysis
- 23.5% of isolates had novel antigen combinations not yet assigned to known vaccine types
- High genetic diversity was found in the antigen targets included in the vaccine
- Vaccine coverage did not vary across the study period (2016-2022) or between different age groups
Limitations
This is a retrospective genetic analysis that predicts vaccine coverage based on sequencing data, not actual clinical outcomes from vaccinated children. The study cannot determine whether the predicted vaccine coverage translates to actual protection against disease in vaccinated populations.
Abstract
Neisseria meningitidis infections can cause life-threatening meningitis and septicemia. In Europe, serogroup B (MenB) is the leading cause of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD), particularly in young children. Genomic surveillance of circulating MenB strains through whole genome sequencing (WGS) provides a powerful tool to assess the potential impact of vaccination strategies, including the 4CMenB vaccine, which is available for infants from 2 months of age. Here, we present a retrospective WGS-based analysis of clinical MenB IMD cases (n = 311) recovered in Belgium from 2016 to 2022 by the Belgian National Reference Center. High-quality WGS data were obtained for 281 of these strains, demonstrating high genetic diversity of the antigen targets included in the 4-component meningococcal serogroup B vaccine 4CMenB (fHbp, PorA, NHBA and NadA) and at the 4CMenB Antigen Sequence Types (BAST) level. Novel antigen combinations, not yet assigned a BAST ID, were detected in 23.5% of isolates. Vaccine coverage was predicted using the Genetic Meningococcal Antigen Typing System (gMATS) and the Meningococcal Deduced Vaccine Antigen Reactivity (MenDeVAR) index. Of the 281 strains, 79.5% (lower limit-upper limit: 68.0-91.5%) were predicted to be covered by the vaccine by gMATS, and 80.7% (lower limit-upper limit: 66.5-95.4%) by MenDeVAR. No evidence of variation in vaccine coverage was found throughout the study period nor between different age groups, demonstrating the broad applicability of 4CMenB. This study highlights the benefits of a pathogen surveillance program and the need for experimental characterization of continuously evolving antigenic subvariants of Neisseria meningitidis.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- 4CMenB vaccine (containing fHbp, PorA, NHBA and NadA antigens), available from 2 months of age
- Population
- Clinical meningococcal serogroup B isolates from invasive disease cases in Belgium, 2016-2022; analysis covers all age groups
Key finding
79.5% of strains predicted to be covered by 4CMenB vaccine (gMATS)