Meningitis jabs recalled in contamination alert

BATCHES of a meningitis C vaccine have been recalled following a contamination scare.

Health chiefs have withdrawn 60,000 doses of the vaccine after tests found traces of Staphylococcus aureus bacterium, which can cause blood poisoning.

About 21,000 doses have been sent to GP surgeries since last month and may have been administered to children.

However government health officials said there had been no reports of adverse reactions to the meningitis C injection and the recall is only a precautionary measure. Contamination fears were raised after a batch of the vaccine, produced by Novartis, in Italy tested positive for the bug.

A spokeswoman for the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said that some samples had tested positive, but these had not been brought to Britain.

The health department said that all vaccines that had done so had passed all their tests.