A University of Oxford study, published in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, tested the vaccine MenACWY on 421 healthy infants in Britain and Canada. The researchers said the vaccine produced immunity against four strains of meningococcal disease and was well tolerated by infants.

The new vaccine is not yet licensed for use in the United States.
Researchers said vaccine currently licensed for use in the United States is poorly immunogenic in infancy, when the highest rates of meningitis are observed.

An estimated 1,400 to 2,800 cases of invasive meningococcal disease occur in the United States each year. Ten to 14 percent of people who contract the disease will die, the report said

Unlike the currently licensed vaccine, MenACWY uses a natural mutant of the diphtheria toxin.

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