Global Communities Urged to Join the Fight to Stop Meningitis This World Meningitis Day

PERTH, Australia, April 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Today the Confederation of Meningitis Organisations (CoMO) is urging people all over the world to "Join Hands Against Meningitis" in an effort to reduce the global impact of the disease. The call-to-action encourages individuals, families and communities to learn the signs and symptoms of meningitis, the importance of urgent treatment of the disease, and that prevention is available through vaccination against some forms of meningitis.

To view the full press release and multimedia assets associated with this release, please click: http://www.multivu.com/mnr/55808-world-meningitis-day-join-the-fight-to-stop-meningitis

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120418/MM88758 )

"CoMO is committed to eradicating meningitis across the globe. World Meningitis Day gives us the opportunity to remind communities that meningitis is a deadly disease and one that can cause death or permanent disability in hours. People need to know the signs and symptoms, the importance of urgent treatment and the preventive role of vaccines. Anyone can get meningitis and empowering people with knowledge about the disease could save a life. We encourage global communities to unite in the fight against meningitis this World Meningitis Day," said Bruce Langoulant, President and Member of the Governing Council of CoMO and father of a meningitis survivor with significant disabilities.

CoMO and its members are recognising the fourth annual World Meningitis Day by hosting a series of events around the world to show strength in numbers and solidarity for this important cause. CoMO aims to unite one million people from all over the world – approximately the same number that will suffer from bacterial meningitis this year[1] – to show their support and virtually join hands against meningitis at: www.comoonline.org

To drive better awareness of the signs and symptoms of meningitis, CoMO has today launched a video entitled 'If I'd known then what I know now' that features a range of people affected by meningitis and shares their knowledge in an effort to educate others and reduce the incidence of those impacted by the disease. The video can be accessed at: http://www.youtube.com/user/COMOmeningitis/featured

To learn more about WMD, CoMO and its member organisations, visit www.comoonline.org.

WMD 2012 is sponsored by Novartis and Pfizer.

References

[1] Giuliani MM, et al. A universal vaccine for serogroup B meningococcus. Proc Natl Acad Sci 2006 Jul 18;103(29):10834-9. Available at: http://www.pnas.org/content/103/29/10834.full. Accessed March 2012.

SOURCE The Confederation of Meningitis Organisations