GSK has announced results from a survey revealing that parents are less knowledgeable about meningitis compared to other childhood infectious diseases.

The multi-country GSK-commissioned and funded survey conducted by Ipsos revealed that 72% of over 4,000 parents said they were somewhat knowledgeable or knew a lot about meningitis.

However, this result was significantly lower compared to other infectious diseases, including COVID-19 (95%), influenza (94%), measles (86%), pneumonia (82%) and whooping cough (74%).

Additionally, 93% of parents across the US, Brazil, Germany, France, Spain, the UK and Italy surveyed said they could not identify the three most common symptoms of the condition: fever, headache and stiff neck.

Annually, 2.5 million people are diagnosed with meningitis globally, of which 1.2 million cases are invasive meningococcal disease (IMD).

Despite 88% of parents considering meningitis to be a serious childhood illness, only 38% said they believed that their child was at risk of catching the disease.

Referring to a range of invasive diseases caused by the Neisseria meningitis bacteria, IMD can cause serious complications, including skin scars, limb amputations, hearing, sight, and memory loss and seizures, if not diagnosed early.

As well as the three most common symptoms of meningitis, others include confusion or an altered mental status, nausea and vomiting.

Along with raising awareness, the survey also aimed to highlight the importance of implementing the World Health Organization’s Global Road Map to defeat Meningitis by 2030.

Piyali Mukherjee, vice president and head of global medical affairs, vaccines, at GSK, said: “This new data shows that meningitis awareness among parents is still too low, despite the significant public health challenges it poses.

“More education is needed on its signs, symptoms, and consequences to help protect children and adolescents from the life-changing consequences of meningitis.”

Brian Davies, head of health insights and policy at the Meningitis Research Foundation, said: “The survey builds on our existing research to show that not enough parents know the signs and symptoms of meningitis and that more must continue to be done to support people, so they know when to get medical help and more lives can be saved.”

https://www.pmlive.com/pharma_news/gsk_survey_highlights_meningitis_knowledge_gaps_among_parents_1501778