Not getting vaccines that protect against meningitis can leave a child vulnerable to catching the disease. But what is the long-term outlook for those who had meningitis as children?

Meningitis, which results in the inflammation of membranes around the spinal cord and brain, is a disease that causes death and disability around the world. Yet it can be prevented through the use of vaccines.

The dangers of secondhand smoke for children can often show up in unexpected ways. Even some bacterial illnesses can pose a higher risk to children if they're around secondhand smoke.

A European agency has taken a step toward approving a new meningitis vaccine. It will be the first vaccine for all age groups for a particularly deadly and common strain of meningitis.

The number of fungal meningitis cases linked to three lots of spinal injections from the New England Compounding Company ( NECC ) has reached 354 with 25 deaths and an additional seven people experiencing peripheral joint infections.

The list of people affected by a recent meningitis outbreak keeps growing. As of Thursday, the list reaches a total of 170 cases in 11 states, with 14 dead.

Getting your flu shot — and nine other common vaccines — just became a bit more convenient. No need to hassle with a doctor appointment. Just drop by Walmart.

The tricky thing about protecting people against bacterial meningitis is that so many different strains exist and the current vaccines protects against only a couple. A couple vaccines exist for specific strains of meningococcal serogroup B, which causes bacterial meningitis, but a vaccine that protects against this whole class of strains is not yet available. The conclusion of a recent trial for a vaccine that would protect people against a wide range of bacterial meningitis strains showed both good levels of effectiveness and a good safety record. Be sure you're up to date on...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued to the Kellogg Company, best known for making Corn Flakes cereal, a  warning letter after the pathogen Listeria was found at its Georgia food manufacturing facility.