Neisseria meningitidis is a major cause of bacterial meningitis and a considerable health problem in the 25 countries of the 'African Meningitis Belt' that extends from Senegal in West Africa to Ethiopia in the East. Approximately 80% of cases of meningococcal meningitis in Africa have been caused by strains belonging to capsular serogroup A. After the introduction of a serogroup A conjugate po...

BACKGROUND The serogroup A conjugate meningococcal vaccine, MenAfriVac, was introduced in mass vaccination campaigns in December 2010 in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. In the coming years, vaccination will be extended to other African countries at risk of epidemics. To document the molecular characteristics of disease-causing meningococcal strains circulating in the meningitis belt of Africa bef...

Neisseria meningitidis serogroups A, B, C, W, X, and Y cause outbreaks of meningococcal disease. Quadrivalent conjugate vaccines targeting the are available. A pentavalent vaccine that also includes serogroup X (NmCV-5) is under development.

To understand the basis of pathogenesis by Legionella longbeachae serogroup 1, the importance of the Mip protein in this species was examined. Amino-terminal analysis of the purified, cloned L. longbeachae serogroup 1 ATCC 33462 Mip protein confirmed that the cloned gene protein was expressed and processed in an Escherichia coli background. DNA sequence analysis of plasmid pIMVS27, containing t...

In 2013, there were 143 laboratory-confirmed cases of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) analysed by the Australian National Neisseria Network (NNN). This was the lowest number of laboratory confirmed IMD cases referred to the NNN since the inception of the Australian Meningococcal Surveillance Programme in 1994. Probable and laboratory confirmed IMD is notifiable in Australia. There were 149...

One hundred and fourteen strains of Pasteurella multocida were isolated from different domestic animals species (cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat, pig, rabbit, dog, cat), avian species (chicken, duck, turkey) and wild animals (deer, tiger, orang utan, marmoset). The serogroups of P. multocida were determined by both conventional capsular serotyping and a multiplex PCR assay targeting specific capsu...

The functional activities of serum samples from human infants immunized with a glycoconjugate vaccine for Neisseria meningitidis serogroup C were assessed in a complement-mediated antibody-dependent serum bactericidal assay (SBA) and in a neonate rat model of protection from bacteremia. Selective serum samples from individual human infants were combined to make a panel of 11 serum pools to obta...

In 2007 there were 281 laboratory-confirmed cases of invasive meningococcal disease analysed by the National Neisseria Network, a nationwide network of reference laboratories. The phenotypes (serogroup, serotype and serosubtype) and antibiotic susceptibility of 154 isolates of Neisseria meningitidis from invasive cases of meningococcal disease were determined and an additional 127 cases were co...

INTRODUCTION Worldwide public health authorities report 500,000 cases of invasive meningococcal disease with 50,000 deaths per year and 10-15% of sequelae in people affected. This study describes the epidemiology, microbiology, and clinical presentation of this disease in the Panamanian pediatric population. METHODOLOGY  The discharge of patients with a meningococcal invasive disease diagnosi...

In order to improve the surveillance of serogroup B and C meningococcal diseases, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) specific for anti-B immunoglobulin M (IgM) and anti-C IgM and IgG antibodies were developed. The tests were evaluated by using paired sera from 122 patients with and 101 patients without laboratory evidence of meningococcal disease. Fifty-three of 67 patients (79%) with ...