title: Carriage rates ofNeisseria meningitidisserogroups: determination among freshmen conscripts before vaccination.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Neisseria meningitidisis transmitted from person-to-person. Thus, close contact with a healthy carrier can facilitate the spread of the bacteria and lead to life-threatening meningococcal disease. The aim of this study was to identify oropharyngeal carriers ofN. meningitidisin volunteers preparing for military service before vaccination.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a cross-sectional study, 226 volunteers entering military service were referred to the Shemiranat Health Center for meningococcal vaccination and assayed. Before vaccination, the participants underwent sampling of the throat using separate swabs. Thayer-Martin Agar medium and microbiological standard methods were used for culture and isolation of the organisms. The bacterial isolates were subjected to DNA extraction and polymerase chain reaction. The obtained data were descriptively analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of the 226 (100%) young volunteers, only 18 (8%) yielded Gram-negative diplococci. The results showed the presence ofN. meningitidis(carriage rate: 8%) in their oropharyngeal regions. The isolated serogroups were C, A, Y, W-135, and X with frequencies of 50, 22.2, 16.6, 5.5, and 5.5, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed that the carriage rate in young volunteers for military service is around 8% before vaccination. Although the rates for serogroups A and C were dominant, the existence of serogroups Y and W indicate the necessary revision of the A/C vaccine. More research is needed to determine serogroup diversity and decrease the risk of meningococcal disease in individual groups.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ramezan Ali
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Ataee
authors.affiliation: Health Management Research Center and Department of Medical Microbiology, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mehrabi-Tavana
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Mohammad Javad
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Hosseini
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Farshad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kaviani
keywords: Conscripts; Healthy carrier; Neisseria meningitidis; PCR