Invasive disease caused by Neisseria meningitidis has an average annual incidence of one case per 100,000 in the United States. The disease can be rapidly fatal or result in severe neurologic and vascular sequelae despite antibiotic therapy. Antibiotic chemoprophylaxis with rifampin, ciprofloxacin, or ceftriaxone is required for household and other close contacts. Although the majority of cases...

Background: Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) remains a major public health problem associated with death and severe consequences, especially in children. However, IMD is preventable through vaccination, vaccines available to cover five of the six most common disease-causing strains (A, B, C, X, Y, W). Surveillance systems are necessary for monitoring incidence, together severity serogroup p...

Notwithstanding different meningococcal serogroups have changed their distribution and their impact in different age classes over time, N. meningitidis' invasive diseases are a major public health issue worldwide, due to the related complications and severe sequelae. Nowadays, the highest rates of invasive disease are registered in children younger than 1 year of age, with a second lesser peak ...

The prevalence of Neisseria meningitidis carriage is highest in teenagers and lowest in young children. In contrast, invasive meningococcal disease is most common in young children with a smaller secondary peak in teenagers. Data on carriage and disease were analysed to quantify the risks of infection and disease by age and serogroup. The forces of infection for serogroups B, C, other meningoco...

Meningococcal strains belonging to clonal complex cc60 are not associated with hypervirulent lineages and were never reported as causing disease in Latin American countries. This is the first report of a fatal meningitis case caused by a cc60 clonal complex meningococcus in Brazil. Despite the immune-compromised state of the patient, the fatal outcome here described shows the potential pathogen...

BACKGROUND Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) is a major cause of bacterial meningitides and septicaemia. This study shows the results of the laboratory-based surveillance of IMD in Belgium over the period 1997-2012. METHODS The results are based on microbiological and molecular laboratory surveillance of 2997 clinical isolates of N. meningitides received by the Belgian Meningococcal Refere...

Phagocytosis of bacteria constitutes an important defense mechanism against invasive bacterial diseases. Efficacy of phagocytosis by polymorphonuclear neutrophils is known to vary between allotypes of Fc gamma RIIa (a class of Fc receptors for immunoglobulins that is constitutively expressed on neutrophils). We compared the distribution of Fc gamma RIIa-R131 and Fc gamma RIIa-H131 allotypes in ...

BACKGROUND Diagnosis of meningococcal disease relies on recognition of clinical signs and symptoms that are notoriously non-specific, variable, and often absent in the early stages of the disease. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) has previously been shown to be fast and effective for the molecular detection of meningococcal DNA in clinical specimens. We aimed to assess the diagnost...

AIMS To establish criteria for early distinction between meningococcal disease and other conditions with similar clinical features, and to identify other causes for haemorrhagic rashes accompanied by fever. METHODS In a prospective study, 264 infants and children hospitalised with fever and skin haemorrhages were studied. RESULTS We identified an aetiological agent in 28%: 15% had meningoco...