title: Meningococcal carriage prevalence in university students, 1824 years of age in Santiago, Chile.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Neisseria meningitidis invasive disease is a major public health problem. Pharyngeal carriage is considered a prerequisite for invasive infection. Prevalence reaches 10% in general population and up to 30% in the 20-24 years age group. The aim of this study was to asses pharyngeal carriage prevalence in healthy subjects aged 18-24 years, and as secondary endpoints evaluate known risk factors, to identify serogroups and sequence in the isolated strains.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study in 500 healthy subjects; students from Universidad de Chile aged 18-24 years, Santiago, Chile, October 2012. Each subject underwent a risk factor survey prior to throat culture sampling. Samples were processed in one central Microbiology Laboratory of Hospital Luis Calvo Mackenna and serogrouping and sequencing was performed at Instituto de Salud Pública de Chile.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We obtained throat samples from 500 healthy subjects, 20 (4%) positive for N. meningitidis. Of positive strains 20% were serogroup B, 15% W and the rest non groupable. The median age was 20 years, 50% were men. Of the risk factors evaluated, 24% were current smokers, 16% shared a room, 72% had kissed someone during the last month, 64% had gone to pub and 76% had consumed alcohol in the same period of time.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Literatures meningococcal carriage prevalence reaches up to 30% in people aged 18-24 years. Prevalence in our study was 4%. Different interpretations could be given; one could be the absence of overcrowding in our students because of the lack of dorms in our scholar system and also the characteristics of our enrolled group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest the necessity to extend the study to other age groups and to other cities, to better understand the Chilean reality, as well as others regions of America, considering that these results cannot be extrapolated to another countries.
authors.affiliation: Pediatrics Infectious Diseases Fellowship, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile; Division of Infectious Diseases, Pediatrics Department, Hospital Luis Calvo Mackenna, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile. Electronic address: piliilip@gmail.com.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rodriguez
authors.affiliation: Microbiology Laboratory, Hospital Luis Calvo Mackenna, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Alvarez
authors.affiliation: Microbiology Laboratory, Hospital Luis Calvo Mackenna, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Torres
authors.affiliation: Scientific Affairs, Instituto de Salud Pública de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Diaz
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Department, Bacteriology Section, Instituto de Salud Pública de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Bertoglia
authors.affiliation: Scientific Affairs, Instituto de Salud Pública de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carcamo
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Department, Bacteriology Section, Instituto de Salud Pública de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Seoane
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Department, Bacteriology Section, Instituto de Salud Pública de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Araya
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Russo
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases, Pediatrics Department, Hospital Luis Calvo Mackenna, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Santolaya
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002353:Carrier State / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002677:Chile; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008589:Meningococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000145:classification; D010614:Pharynx / Q000382:microbiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Carriage; Meningococcal; Pharyngeal; Students; University