Meningitis. Just hearing the word brings shivers down the spine, according to Dr. George Kassianos.

The bacterial illness attacks the brain and spinal cord leading to such symptoms as sudden fever, a stiff neck and severe headaches. And as Kassianos adds, meningitis is deadly.

So he - and 35,999 other general practitioners throughout the United Kingdom - did something about it.

"We did not want to see another case of meningitis C and we managed to do that," Kassianos explains.

For a year beginning in November 1999 the United Kingdom launched the world's first immunization program against the C strain of the disease - considered to be the most dangerous form of meningitis.

"We were the first to actually say 'these vaccines have now completed their trials, we are going to license them and begin to actually put them into use,'" he says.

Kassianos credits the British government with setting the trials into motion and implementing the programme with no regard to the "millions" it would cost.

The vaccine was offered nationwide, initially to first-year college students because "the first thing they do is kiss a lot." The disease is spread through direct contact.

Other students were vaccinated next, followed by babies.

"And stage by stage within a year we did them all," Kassianos says, estimating about 95 percent coverage throughout the country.

The result?

"I have not seen one case since the programe was introduced, within a year.... we managed to achieve something which I call a miracle," he states proudly.

Among youngsters aged 15-17 there was a 90 percent reduction in meningitis C cases; in babies under one year old, an 82 percent drop.

The year before the vaccine was introduced, the United Kingdom had 1,500 cases of meningitis C leading to 150 deaths as a result. Forty of the 150 deaths were young people aged 15-19.

Kassianos said that while the vaccine helps prevent meningitis, it cannot help cure it. He said antibiotics are recommended for those who actually contract the disease.

In addition to being a general practitioner, Cyprus-born Kassianos has an even closer relationship with the vaccination program through his role as spokesman for the Royal College of General Practitioners on immunization matters.

"I'm in continuous contact with the Department of Health and the people who work on the vaccines," said Kassianos, whose experience with infectious disease and immunization is extensive. He has written many books and lectured on the topic.

Kassianos studied medicine for six years in Poland where he researched infectious diseases after finishing school in Athens and military duty in Cyprus.

After the army, he hopped through Athens and went to the United Kingdom, where he's been working since January 1975.

While the United Kingdom was the very first country in the world to introduce the meningitis C vaccination programme, it will not be the last. Kassianos says Ireland and Spain are already following suit.

Kassianos is keen that Greece, where trials of the vaccine continue, should follow suit: "There is no reason why the children of Greece should be getting meningitis when there is a vaccine that has been tried by at least one country in Europe."