Prevalence of Neisseria meningitidis carriers in children under five years of age and teenagers in certain populations of Mexico City.
OBJECTIVE
To carry out a pilot study to discover the frequency of colonization in healthy children under five years old and teenagers, as well as the distribution of the different N. meningitidis serogroups isolated from nasopharyngeal samples collected from the population under study.


METHODS
The population included youth between 15 and 19 years old living in social rehabilitation centers (SRC) and university teenagers (UT) as well as children under the age of five attending day care centers (DCC) in Mexico City. Nasopharyngeal exudates were processed using standard microbiological techniques in order to identify Nm, the serogroup, type and subtype of these isolates.


RESULTS
A total of 2 310 samples (774 SRC, 800 UT and 736 DCC) were taken. Total prevalence of Nm was 1.6 per cent. In teenagers living in SRC the prevalence was 2.9%. The most frequent serogroups were Y (29.7%), C (24.3%) and B (10.8%).


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of carriers in the study environment was significant (1.6%) and similar to countries in which the invasive illness is much more frequent.
Hospital General Dr. Manuel Gea González, Departamento de investigación en microbiología, México. espinosaluzelena@hotmail.com
Luz Elena
LE
Espinosa de los Monteros
Felipe
F
Aguilar-Ituarte
Leticia Verónica
LV
Jiménez-Rojas
Pablo
P
Kuri
Romeo S
RS
Rodríguez-Suárez
Demóstenes
D
Gómez-Barreto
D000293:Adolescent; D002353:Carrier State / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D002656:Child Day Care Centers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008585:Meningitis, Meningococcal / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D009305:Nasopharynx / Q000382:microbiology*; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015995:Prevalence; D012112:Residential Facilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012703:Serotyping; D014495:Universities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult