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.
Description
Keywords
Neisseria meningitidis, Meningococcal carriage, Serogroup W135, Uganda
Citation
Caugant, D. A., Fogg, C., Bajunirwe, F., Piola, P., Twesigye, R., Mutebi, F., ... & Guerin, P. J. (2006). Pharyngeal carriage of Neisseria meningitidis in 2–19-year-old individuals in Uganda. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 100(12), 1159-1163. DOI: 10.1016/j.trstmh.2006.01.004