Since 1994, The National Neisseria Network, a nationwide collaborative laboratory program, has examined and analysed isolates of Neisseria meningitidis from cases of invasive meningococcal disease in Australia. The phenotypes (serogroup, serotype and serosubtype) and antibiotic susceptibility of 393 isolates of N. meningitidis from invasive cases of meningococcal disease were determined in 2002...

Containment strategies for outbreaks of invasive Neisseria meningitidis disease are informed by serogroup assays that characterize the polysaccharide capsule. We sought to uncover the genomic basis of conflicting serogroup assay results for an isolate (M16917) from a patient with acute meningococcal disease. To this end, we characterized the complete genome sequence of the M16917 isolate and pe...

The National Neisseria Network (NNN) has undertaken meningococcal isolate surveillance by means of a collaborative laboratory based initiative since 1994. The phenotype (serogroup, serotype and serosubtype) and antibiotic susceptibility of 343 isolates of Neisseria meningitidis from invasive cases of meningococcal disease were determined in 1997. Ninety six percent of the invasive isolates were...

INTRODUCTION Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B is an important infectious agent in developed countries, including Canada. Infants are particularly susceptible to infection with serogroup B because of immature immune systems, pathogen virulence factors and changing serogroup dynamics in the post-vaccination era. Currently, the Ontario provincial government does not include serogroup B in its ro...

BACKGROUND College students living in residential halls are at increased risk of meningococcal disease. Unlike that for serogroups prevented by quadrivalent meningococcal vaccines, public health response to outbreaks of serogroup B meningococcal disease is limited by lack of a US licensed vaccine. METHODS In March 2010, we investigated a prolonged outbreak of serogroup B disease associated wi...

Since 1994, The National Neisseria Network has examined and analysed isolates of Neisseria meningitidis from cases of invasive meningococcal disease in Australia by means of a collaborative laboratory program. The phenotypes (serogroup, serotype and serosubtype) and antibiotic susceptibility of 338 isolates of N. meningitidis from invasive cases of meningococcal disease were determined in 2001....

Among 384 patients with confirmed meningococcal disease, the likelihood of detecting Neisseria meningitidis DNA in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) increased with age, serogroup B infection, and prehospitalization antibiotic treatment. Plasma and CSF genomic bacterial loads of non-B N. meningitidis serogroups correlated significantly. Serogroup B-infected patients with genotype TNF2 (-308A) had signif...

During periods of endemic meningococcal disease, serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis is responsible for a significant percentage of invasive diseases, and no particular clone or strain predominates (F. E. Ashton and D. A. Caugant, Can. J. Microbiol. 47: 293-289, 2001), However, in the winter of 2004 to 2005, a cluster of serogroup B meningococcal disease occurred in one region in the province of...

The National Neisseria Network has undertaken meningococcal isolate surveillance by means of a collaborative laboratory based initiative since 1994. The phenotype (serogroup, serotype and serosubtype) and antibiotic susceptibility of 368 isolates of Neisseria meningitidis from invasive cases of meningococcal disease were determined in 1999. Ninety percent of the invasive isolates were either se...

In Oregon and parts of Washington State, the incidence of serogroup B meningococcal disease increased substantially in 1994 (1). Multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MEE) subtyping of N. meningitidis serogroup B strains collected in these areas during 1993 and 1994 suggested that these increases were due to a group of genetically related strains of the enzyme type-5 (ET-5) complex. ET-5 N. mening...