title: Epidemiology of invasive meningococcal infections of children in Slovenia during 1993-1999.
abstract: Invasive strains of Neisseria meningitidis isolated from sterile body fluids of children aged 0-14 years were intentionally collected in nine Slovenian laboratories, and sent to the laboratory of the National Institute of Public Health, Ljubljana for final evaluation. From 1993-1999 we collected 53 invasive strains from children presented in this study. The incidence rate of invasive diseases in children shows that there is a rapid fall from 4.74/100,000 in 1993 to 0.90/100,000 in 1999. Invasive diseases predominated in children in the age group 0-1 year (19.6 cases per 100,000 children); followed by the age groups 2-4 years, 5-9 years and 10-14 years. The results of serogrouping indicate that the largest proportion of meningococci isolated (90%) were group B, while 8% of isolates were group C and only 2% group Y. The serotype/serosubtype distribution shows that the most frequent serotype (excluding 19 non-typable NT strains) was serotype 22, which was expressed in 9 strains and the most frequent serosubtype (excluding 11 NST strains) was P1.5,2 found in 7 strains. The most frequently isolated strains (excluding NT/NST strains) were B:22:P1.14; B:NT:P1.5 and B:NT:P1.16. Thirty-one strains collected during 1993-1995 were analysed by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MEE). There were 25 electrophoretic types (ETs) among 31 strains; the strains were very heterogeneous with only four ETs being represented by more than one strain. Study shows that meningococcal disease is still endemic in Slovenia.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Slovenia, Ljubljana.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paragi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kraigher
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cizman
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gubina
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Caugant
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008589:Meningococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012703:Serotyping; D017524:Slovenia / Q000453:epidemiology