title: Epidemiology of nasopharyngeal carriage of Neisseria meningitidis in healthy Dutch children.
abstract: 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).
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Sophia Children's Hospital of Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bogaert
authors.forename: P W M
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Hermans
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Boelens
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sluijter
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Luijendijk
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Rumke
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koppen
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van Belkum
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: de Groot
authors.forename: H A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Verbrugh
mesh_terms: 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