Acute bacterial meningitis (ABM) continues to be associated with high mortality and morbidity, despite advances in antimicrobial therapy. The causative organism varies with age, immune function, immunization status, and geographic region, and empiric therapy for meningitis is based on these factors. Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Neisseria meningitidis cause ...

Phagocytosis of bacteria constitutes an important defense mechanism against invasive bacterial diseases. Efficacy of phagocytosis by polymorphonuclear neutrophils is known to vary between allotypes of Fc gamma RIIa (a class of Fc receptors for immunoglobulins that is constitutively expressed on neutrophils). We compared the distribution of Fc gamma RIIa-R131 and Fc gamma RIIa-H131 allotypes in ...

Consolidation of data on meningococcal disease surveillance for the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, has provided new insight about the evolution of this disease during the period of 1971-2000. A descriptive epidemiological study, based on retrospective analysis of all cases of meningococcal disease notified in the state of Santa Catarina, linked the surveillance data from the Secretary of the ...

Meningococcal disease is an acute, severe bacterial infection caused by Neisseria meningitidis. The most common presentations of invasive meningococcal infection (IMD) are meningitis and sepsis, less common pathologic presentations include focal infections. IMD can develop from initial symptoms to death within 24 hours. As many as 20% of survivors have permanent sequelae. Infants < 1 year of ag...

In Victoria, legislation clearly makes the notification of clinical or confirmed cases of meningococcal disease mandatory. Statistical modelling suggests that meningococcal disease is significantly under-notified, and that incorrect codes might be being ascribed to some in-patient episodes. The aims of this study were (i) to test the assumption that cases identified as non-notified cases were t...

which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Editorial Meningococcal disease presenting with meningitis or sepsis is a life-threatening illness with significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Despite providing appropriate antibiotic therapy and supportive care, invasive meningococcal disease could ...

Surprisingly little is known regarding the human mixing patterns relevant to the spread of close-contact infections, such as measles, influenza and meningococcal disease. This study aims to estimate the number of partnerships that individuals make, their stability and the degree to which mixing is assortative with respect to age. We defined four levels of putative at-risk events from casual (ph...

AIM To review the epidemiology of invasive meningococcal disease in NSW for the period 1991-2011, in particular since the introduction of the meningococcal C vaccination program in 2003. METHODS We undertook a descriptive analysis of NSW notifications of invasive meningococcal disease for the period 2003-2011, and explored long-term changes in the epidemiology of invasive meningococcal diseas...

This study had three objectives: firstly, it aimed to examine an appropriate model for preventing and controlling the risk of meningococcal disease as a result of an epidemic carrying by returning pilgrims at Hat Yai International Airport; secondly, it aimed to establish the number of meningococcal carriers among pilgrims returning from Saudi Arabia; thirdly, it considered the health problems t...

BACKGROUND Following the introduction of meningococcal serogroup C conjugate vaccine in Italy in 2005, changes in the epidemiology of Invasive Meningococcal Disease (IMD) were expected. The study aims were to describe the epidemiological trend and to characterize the isolates collected during the period 2008/09-2012/13 by multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Data on laboratory confirmed meningoco...