It can kill in four hours and more than 300 people in the UK die from it every year — and hundreds more are left with permanent disabilities. Now researchers will work on a potential vaccine for meningitis B, thanks to a £200,000 grant from the medical charity Meningitis UK.

Meningitis epidemics caused by the pathogen Nesseiria meningitis (or meningococcus) provoke high mortality in children and young people under 20 years of age in sub-Saharan Africa. They rage during periods of drought from January to April, in the area known as the "Meningitis Belt".