title: Twenty years of surveillance of Invasive Meningococcal Diseases in Puglia, Italy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The study aims to investigate the change in the burden of disease and the microbiological characteristics of Invasive Meningococcal Disease (IMD) in Puglia in comparison with overall incidence from 1994 through 2014.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data are gathered in the frame of the National Surveillance System coordinated by the National Reference Laboratory (NRL) of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In Puglia, from 1994 through 2014, the average incidence of IMD was 0.2 per 100 000 inhabitants, below the national average value (0.33). IMD cases tended to be older than the other cases reported in Italy (median age 19 vs 16). The case-fatality rate was 20.4% in Puglia vs 13.3% in Italy. Serogroups B and C were most frequently identified. Serogroups C and Y presented a fairly clonal pattern, whereas serogroup B was genetically rather heterogeneous.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Surveillance systems are critical in monitoring any change in the epidemiology of IMD.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Malattie Infettive, Parassitarie ed Immunomediate, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stefanelli
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Malattie Infettive, Parassitarie ed Immunomediate, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fazio
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Malattie Infettive, Parassitarie ed Immunomediate, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Arianna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Neri
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Patologia Clinica, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria OORR, Foggia, Italy.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Taranto
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Diagnostica di Laboratorio e Trasfusionale, IRCCS "Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza San Giovanni Rotondo", Foggia, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Labonia
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche e Oncologia Umana, Sezione di Igiene, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Anna Lisa
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: De Robertis
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche e Oncologia Umana, Sezione di Igiene, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Loconsole
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche, Università di Foggia, Foggia, Italy.
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Martinelli
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche e Oncologia Umana, Sezione di Igiene, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chironna
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008589:Meningococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D008875:Middle Aged; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000187:drug effects; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012703:Serotyping; D055815:Young Adult