The chemoprophylaxis of cerebrospinal meningitis using rifampin in a military population.
Since February 5th 1990, the prevention of secondary cases of cerebrospinal meningitis (CSM) in France has been obtained by the use of rifampin. Following the detection of a case of N. meningitidis of antigenic formula B:NT:P1.15,16 in a military population, 89 contacts subjects received 600 mg rifampin twice a day during 2 days. Meningococcal carriage rate was investigated by nasopharyngeal swab sampling of the 89 subjects and 62 non-contact controls from the same community. Twenty-three days after the initial case of meningitis, carriage rate was 5.6% for treated subjects and 37.1 for controls. Sero-grouping, serotyping and subtyping failed to detect the initial virulent strain; it demonstrated the heterogeneity of circulating strains. Since rifampin-resistant mutants may occur, two strains in the treated group, it is essential that chemoprophylaxis in a community be limited strictly to the contact subjects.
Chapalain
J C
JC
Laboratoire de Biologie Médicale, Hôpital d'Instruction des Armées Desgenettes, Lyon, France.
Guibourdenche
M
M
Perrier-Gros-Claude
J D
JD
Bartoli
M
M
Riou
J Y
JY
D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008585:Meningitis, Meningococcal / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008889:Military Personnel; D009305:Nasopharynx / Q000382:microbiology; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012016:Reference Values; D012293:Rifampin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012703:Serotyping
D012293:Rifampin