title: Pharyngeal carriage of Neisseria meningitidis in 2-19-year-old individuals in Uganda.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Disease Control, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Nydalen, Oslo, Norway. dominique.caugant@fhi.no
authors.forename: Dominique A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Caugant
authors.forename: Carole
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fogg
authors.forename: Francis
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bajunirwe
authors.forename: Patrice
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Piola
authors.forename: Rogers
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Twesigye
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mutebi
authors.forename: L Oddvar
authors.initials: LO
authors.lastname: Frøholm
authors.forename: Einar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rosenqvist
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Batwala
authors.forename: Ingeborg S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Aaberge
authors.forename: John-Arne
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Rottingen
authors.forename: Philippe J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Guerin
mesh_terms: 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