Outbreak of invasive meningococcal disease among soldiers in Skwierzyna, Poland, March 2006.

The outbreak Four cases of invasive meningococcal disease were reported between 22 and 24 March 2006 in newly recruited soldiers in Skwierzyna in Lubuskie, a western province of Poland. Two soldiers had been referred to a physician on 21 March with influenza-like symptoms, and one of them had consulted a physician in a local hospital, but was not admitted to hospital for treatment. On 22 March both soldiers had sudden onset of petechial rash, general discomfort and fever. They were immediately admitted to the intensive care unit of the regional hospital in Gorzow Wielkopolski. A third soldier had similar symptoms of malaise and signs of meningeal irritation on 23 March. He was admitted to the local hospital for observation, where he developed a petechial rash. A fourth soldier developed pharyngitis on 23 March, and was also admitted to the local hospital for observation, where he developed severe headache and vomiting on 24 March. Both soldiers were admitted to the intensive care unit in Gorzow Wielkopolski immediately after symptom onset. Preliminary investigation of blood and cerebrospinal fluid samples at the National Reference Centre for Bacterial Meningitis revealed that all cases were caused by Neisseria meningitidis serotype C.