Epidemiology of nasopharyngeal carriage of Neisseria meningitidis in healthy Dutch children.
We investigated the prevalence and determinants of nasopharyngeal carriage of Neisseria meningitidis in 3200 healthy children aged 1-19 years. The incidence of meningococcal carriage was, on average, 1.5%. Peak incidences were seen at age 1 year and after age 15 years. The independent determinants of meningococcal carriage included age, regular visits to youth clubs (odds ratio [OR], 2.2) and discotheques (OR, 4.3), and pneumococcal carriage (OR, 4.1).
Bogaert
D
D
Department of Pediatrics, Sophia Children's Hospital of Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Hermans
P W M
PW
Boelens
H
H
Sluijter
M
M
Luijendijk
A
A
Rumke
H C
HC
Koppen
S
S
van Belkum
A
A
de Groot
R
R
Verbrugh
H A
HA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging; D002353:Carrier State; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008589:Meningococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009305:Nasopharynx / Q000382:microbiology*; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors