Meningococcal disease and climate

I nvasive meningococcal disease (IMD) is an epidemic infectious disease highly influenced by climatic factors. Climate plays an important role in both the spatial distribution of the disease and in the seasonality of IMD as seen all over the world (1). It is mentioned as one of the infectious diseases likely to be affected by climate change in the Fourth Assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2). IMD is an airborne disease with humans as its only reservoir. Global warming will change precipitation levels with a combination of more severe droughts in some areas and more frequent heavy precipitation events in others (2), and these are events likely to affect the incidence and geographical distribution of IMD (1). Effects suspected to be the result of climate change are already evident on the distribution of IMD epidemics in Africa (1, 3). Research in the field of infectious diseases and climate has focused on vector-borne diseases like malaria and dengue fever (1, 4 8). Less is known about the effects of climate on airborne diseases like IMD. The aim of this review is to give an overview of the current knowledge of how climate affects IMD and to more thoroughly investigate the climate research concerning IMD that has been published in the last decade.