Meningococcal diseases

[Sommer]

Meningococci (Neisseria meningitidis) are gram-negative cocci that cause meningitis and meningococcemia. Symptoms, usually severe, include headache, nausea, vomiting, photophobia, lethargy, rash, multiple organ failure, shock, and disseminated intravascular coagulation. Diagnosis is clinical, confirmed by culture. Treatment is penicillin or a 3rd-generation cephalosporin.
Meningococci are gram-negative aerobic cocci that belong to the family Neisseriaceae. There are 13 serogroups; 6 serogroups (A, B, C, W135, X, and Y) cause most human disease.
Worldwide, the incidence of endemic meningococcal disease is 0.5 to 5/100,000, with an increased number of cases during winter and spring in temperate climates. Local outbreaks occur most frequently in sub-Saharan Africa between Gambia and Senegal in the west and Ethiopia, Eritrea, and northern Kenya in the east; this area is known as the sub-Saharan (African) meningitis belt, which includes 26 countries. In major African epidemics (which were often caused by serogroup A), attack rates ranged from 100 to 800/100,000 and affected up to 200,000 people each year. After widespread use of the meningococcal A vaccine in the African meningitis belt, serogroup A has been replaced by other meningococcal serogroups and by Streptococcus pneumoniae.
In the US, the annual incidence ranges from 0.12 to 1.1/100,000. Over the past 20 years, incidence of meningococcal disease has declined annually. Most cases are sporadic, typically in children lt; 2 years of age; lt; 2% occur in outbreaks. Outbreaks tend to occur in semiclosed communities (eg, military recruit camps, college dormitories, schools, day care centers) and often involve patients aged 5 to 19 years. Serogroups B, C, and Y are the most frequent causes of disease in the US; each serogroup accounts for about one third of reported cases. Serogroup A is rare in the US.