PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 5, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- GSK (LSE:
GSK) today launched an educational campaign to help raise awareness
of meningitis, a rare but potentially deadly disease. Most teens
and young adults have not received the vaccines needed to help
protect against all five vaccine-preventable groups of
meningitis.2 The campaign, Take 5 for Meningitis,
will use news media, social media and educational events to help
educate parents and young adults about meningitis and urge them to
talk to their healthcare provider about vaccination to help prevent
it.
There are five vaccine-preventable groups of meningitis—A, B, C,
W, and Y—and two types of vaccines to help protect against these
groups. While most young people (70 percent) have received
the vaccine that helps protect against meningitis groups A, C, W
and Y, less than 10 percent have received the vaccine to that helps
prevent against meningitis B. Meningitis B causes approximately 30
percent of the cases of meningococcal disease in the
U.S.3 and meningitis B vaccination is recommended by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for young people ages
16-23 years. The Take 5 campaign is intended to help
increase immunization rates against meningitis
B4.
Jamie Schanbaum, a U.S.
Paralympic cyclist and meningitis survivor, helped launch the
campaign along with world-renowned photographer Anne Geddes and Dr. Len
Friedland, Vice President, Director Scientific Affairs and
Public Health, Vaccines North America for GSK, at BlogHer 2016 in
Los Angeles, an annual conference
of more than 3,500 bloggers and media.
"I was in my first semester at my dream college when I learned
one of the hardest lessons of my life. What I first thought was the
flu turned out to be meningitis and I ended up losing all of my
fingers and both legs below the knees." said Schanbaum. "When
it comes to meningitis, what you don't know can hurt you.
That's why I have joined with GSK in this effort to educate others
about meningitis. I urge everyone to take five minutes to learn the
facts and what they can do to help prevent it."
One in 10 people infected with meningitis B will die, while one
in five survivors will suffer long-term disability, such as loss of
limbs, brain damage, deafness and nervous system
problems5.
"While vaccines are the best way to help prevent this rare but
potentially devastating disease, knowledge is power in this case,"
said Dr. Friedland. "Research shows that 88 percent of
parents whose children have received a meningitis vaccine don't
know which serogroups of the disease their child is vaccinated
against.6 We are working to build awareness and help
prevent this terrible disease."
Young people particularly are at risk because they live, work
and play in places that put them in close contact with each other,
such as schools, sports teams, clubs, camps, college dorms and
military housing. Vaccines are the best protection against
meningitis as it is often difficult to treat and can be fatal,
sometimes within 24 hours of the onset of symptoms, or can cause
life-long disability.
Through the campaign, Schanbuam and Nick
Springer, a U.S. Paralympian wheel chair rugby player and
another meningitis survivor, will tell their own stories of
survival to help educate on the importance of vaccination.
"Meningitis changed my entire life when I was just a kid. I lost
most of my legs and arms and later learned that there was a vaccine
that might have protected me against the disease," said Springer.
"No one should have to go through what I've gone through and that's
why I'm working with GSK to tell my story."
GSK has launched a website where parents and young people can
learn about meningococcal meningitis, the risk factors, how it can
be spread, the symptoms, the impact of the disease, and how teens
and young adults can help protect themselves. Visit
www.meningitis.com for more information and additional
resources.
Take 5 for Meningitis complements GSK's larger
effort—Win for Meningitis—a global campaign to build
awareness about meningitis and the vaccines available to help
prevent it.
GSK is the largest vaccines manufacturer in the world.
GSK – one of the world's leading research-based
pharmaceutical and healthcare companies – is committed to improving
the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel
better and live longer. For further information please visit
www.gsk.com.
Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking
statements
GSK cautions investors that any forward-looking
statements or projections made by GSK, including those made in this
announcement, are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause
actual results to differ materially from those projected. Such
factors include, but are not limited to, those described under Item
3.D 'Risk factors' in the company's Annual Report on Form 20-F for
2015.
1 CDC. Manual for the Surveillance of
Vaccine-Preventable Diseases: Chapter 8: Meningococcal Disease.
April 2014. Available at:
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/surv-manual/chpt08-mening.html.
Page 1, Paragraph 3, Line 2.
2 GSK, data on file.
3 CDC. Manual for the Surveillance of
Vaccine-Preventable Diseases: Chapter 8: Meningococcal Disease.
April 2014. Available at:
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/surv-manual/chpt08-mening.html.
Page 1, Paragraph 3, Line 1.
4 CDC. Manual for the Surveillance of
Vaccine-Preventable Diseases: Chapter 8: Meningococcal Disease.
April 2014. Available at:
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/surv-manual/chpt08-mening.html.
Page 1, Paragraph 3, Line 2. Page 1, Paragraph
25, Line 1
5 CDC. Meningococcal Disease: Technical and Clinical
Information. June 2015. Available at
http://www.cdc.gov/meningococcal/clinical-info.html. Page 1,
Paragraph 4, Lines 1-3.
6 Harris Poll. US Awareness Poll-Parents.
February 2015.
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SOURCE GSK