More than 1,000 Oxfordshire teenagers have signed up to take part in a groundbreaking research study into preventing meningitis.

The study is looking at whether giving 16 to 19 year olds a meningitis B (MenB) vaccine will prevent them from passing the infection onto people of all ages.

In the UK 24,000 students are taking part, including 1,232 from 15 schools across the county.

Meningitis is an infection around the surface of the brain, which can cause life-threatening blood poisoning and permanent damage to the brain or nerves.

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All teenagers taking part in the study receive two doses of a MenB vaccine. They also have two throat swabs taken 12 months apart.

The research team are looking to see if the vaccines reduce the numbers of students carrying the meningitis-causing bacteria in their throat.

The trial uses two licensed MenB vaccines, 4CMenB (Bexsero) and MenB-fHBP (Trumenba).

One group of 8,000 get 4CMenB while another 8,000 get MenB-fHBP.

The vaccines are given at the start of the study and six months later.

A further 8,000 youngsters do not get the vaccine at first, so swabs can be taken 12 months apart and results compared to those who do get the vaccine, to examine the difference.

They then get the 4CMenB vaccine after they have had the swabs taken.

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The trial began in March 2018 and is being conducted through 154 schools in 16 regions in England, Scotland and Wales.

Each region enrols students to one study group.

The study’s lead investigator Professor Matthew Snape, of Oxford University, said: “We have met an amazing milestone by meeting our recruitment target of 24,000 teenagers.

"However, we’re not done yet, and we are asking all our participants to stay involved by coming back to the crucial last study visit.”

For more information visit beontheteam.web.ox.ac.uk.