Pharyngeal carriage of Neisseria meningitidis in 2-19-year-old individuals in Uganda.
In southern Uganda, only sporadic cases of serogroup A meningococcal disease have been reported since 2000. As part of an immunogenicity study of the tetravalent meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine, nasopharyngeal swab samples were collected twice, 4 weeks apart, from 2-19-year-old healthy individuals in Mbarara, Uganda. Only 15 (2.0%) of the 750 individuals carried meningococci asymptomatically. Most of the strains were non-serogroupable and none were serogroup A. However, two individuals carried a serogroup W135 strain, sequence type (ST)-11, similar to the clone that was responsible for the epidemic in Burkina Faso in 2002. Our study further demonstrates the geographical spread of serogroup W135 ST-11 strain and thus the potential epidemic risk.
Caugant
Dominique A
DA
Division of Infectious Disease Control, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Nydalen, Oslo, Norway. dominique.caugant@fhi.no
Fogg
Carole
C
Bajunirwe
Francis
F
Piola
Patrice
P
Twesigye
Rogers
R
Mutebi
Fred
F
Frøholm
L Oddvar
LO
Rosenqvist
Einar
E
Batwala
Vincent
V
Aaberge
Ingeborg S
IS
Rottingen
John-Arne
JA
Guerin
Philippe J
PJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002353:Carrier State / Q000382:microbiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010614:Pharynx / Q000382:microbiology*; D010641:Phenotype; D014454:Uganda / Q000453:epidemiology