Meningococcal phenotypic and genotypic characteristics and human antibody levels.
During a 2-month period in 1984, throat and blood samples were collected from 1,102 healthy persons of different ages living in the city of Tromsø, Norway. One hundred and eight persons (9.8%) were meningococcal carriers, but the carrier rate varied with sex and age. Twenty-nine isolates (26.9%) were of serogroup B, and 31 (28.7%) isolates contained the serotype 15 antigen. Sixty-eight (63.0%) isolates were nontypable, 49 (45.4%) were nongroupable, and 21 (19.4%) were sulfonamide resistant. All nine serotype 2a isolates and eight (25.8%) of the serotype 15 isolates were sulfonamide resistant. Only these eight serotype 15, sulfonamide-resistant isolates had a DNA fingerprint similar to that of the majority of systemic isolates of Neisseria meningitidis in Norway. The average level of antimeningococcal immunoglobulin G antibodies, as determined by a whole-bacterium enzyme immunoassay with a systemic B:15 meningococcal strain as the antigen, was low until 12 to 15 years of age and then steadily increased.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis*; D002353:Carrier State / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000032:analysis*; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D010641:Phenotype
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D007074:Immunoglobulin G