A MAJOR campaign is being launched to immunise small children against a deadly bug which can cause meningitis and other serious illnesses.

Health officials in East Lancashire are co-ordinating an extensive booster vaccination programme of children aged between six months and four years against the bacteria Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib).

In the last 12 months, two children aged under five in East Lancashire - one in Blackburn and one in Hyndburn - caught meningitis from the bug, which they later recovered from.

The campaign, which starts on May 12, is part of a national drive to eradicate the bug, which has been on the increase since 1999.

Over the next four months, all parents in East Lancashire with children aged between six months and four years will be sent a letter asking them to attend a clinic to have their children vaccinated.

Public health consultant with East Lancashire Health Protection Unit Dr John Astbury said he hoped all parents would see how important it was for their children to receive vital protection from potentially serious disease.

He said "It is very important to get as good a response as possible from all children in this age group.

"This will ensure their protection and also reduce levels of circulation of the bug, protecting very young children against Hib disease, and especially Hib meningitis, before they have completed their own immunisation schedule."

Jabs against Hib began in 1992 and were initially a great success. Before then one in every 600 children developed some form of Hib disease and each year in England and Wales, 30 died and another 80 suffered permanent brain damage.

In 1992 the Hib vaccine was offered to all children under the age of five and since then has been part of the routine childhood vaccination programme.

This led to a dramatic drop in serious infections and over the last ten years the vaccination programme has prevented an estimated 7,300 cases and 270 deaths in children under four years.

Dr Astbury said: "Though, initially, the vaccine had a dramatic effect in reducing infection, the numbers have been increasing again since 1999, most dramatically in children aged between one and four.

"In East Lancashire there have been two cases of Hib meningitis in under fives in the last 12 months. Previously there had not been any for several years."

He said the reasons for the increase were not clear but children who have not been vaccinated at an early age and those who did not develop enough immunity despite inoculation were most at risk.

He said they were targeting all children, so for safety's sake so children who have received the vaccine but failed to develop adequate immunity, were more likely to second time around.

Children receive the Hib injections when they are two, three and four months old and this current programme is to boost immunity.

In most cases, children eligible to receive the booster vaccination - born between April 2, 1999, and October 1, 2002 - and those reaching six months of age during the campaign will be asked to go to wherever their child usually receives their immunisation.

In some cases there will be special clinics.

Parents will receive two weeks' notice of appointments, and the campaign will run for four months.