Scientists are testing different combinations of vaccines and booster shots to combat a bacterial strain of meningitis - the most severe form of the disease.

Pneumococcal meningitis affects the lining of the brain and can kill or leave victims with serious disabilities and brain damage.

The results of the trials, being carried out by the Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS), will be published in about 18 months' time.

Bacterial meningitis has killed between 150 and 200 people each year in the UK over the past decade.

The new meningitis vaccine, which was reported to have been licensed for use in Europe and America, was said to cost �40 per dose.

The vaccine also guards against childhood pneumonia and ear infections.

If approved, the immunisation could form part of the government's "vaccination programme" for infants.

Parents' fears

Babies are already immunised against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, influenza and other forms of meningitis.

But it could increase parents' fears that a series of jabs, including the controversial MMR vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella, are overloading children's immune systems.