Pharyngeal carriage of Neisseria meningitidis in 2–19-year-old individuals in Uganda

Caugant, Domimique A., Fogg, Carole, Bajunirwe, Francis, Piola, Patrice, Twesigye, Roger, Mutebi, Fred, Froholm, L. Oddvar, Rosenqvist, Einar, Batwala, Vincent, Aaberge, Ingeborg S., Rottingen, John-Arne and Guerin, Philippe J. (2006) Pharyngeal carriage of Neisseria meningitidis in 2–19-year-old individuals in Uganda. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 100 (12), 1159-1163. (doi:10.1016/j.trstmh.2006.01.004).

Abstract

In southern Uganda, only sporadic cases of serogroup A meningococcal disease have been reported since 2000. As part of an immunogenicity study of the tetravalent meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine, nasopharyngeal swab samples were collected twice, 4 weeks apart, from 2–19-year-old healthy individuals in Mbarara, Uganda. Only 15 (2.0%) of the 750 individuals carried meningococci asymptomatically. Most of the strains were non-serogroupable and none were serogroup A. However, two individuals carried a serogroup W135 strain, sequence type (ST)-11, similar to the clone that was responsible for the epidemic in Burkina Faso in 2002. Our study further demonstrates the geographical spread of serogroup W135 ST-11 strain and thus the potential epidemic risk.

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Contributors

Author: Carole Fogg

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