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Postgrad Med 2020 Jun 1:1-10. Epub 2020 Jun 1.

Medical Development, Scientific & Clinical Affairs, Pfizer Vaccines, Pfizer Inc , Collegeville, PA, USA.

College students in the United States are at an increased risk for meningococcal serogroup B disease or MenB, which causes the majority of invasive meningococcal disease in the country among adolescents and young adults (62%) and also across all age groups (36%) as of 2018. Approximately one-third of MenB cases among college students occur during campus outbreaks, which trigger substantial public health concern and costs associated with conducting rapid mass vaccination campaigns in an emergency setting. Eleven US college outbreaks of MenB disease have occurred since the initial licensure and recommendation of two MenB vaccines in 2014/2015; both vaccines have been used as part of outbreak responses on campuses, but vaccine coverage and multidose series completion among the general adolescent population are very low (approximately 17% of 17-year-olds in the United States received ≥1 dose in 2018). Read More

Ther Adv Vaccines Immunother 2020 8;8:2515135520919195. Epub 2020 May 8.

Departament of Immunology, Adolfo Lutz Institute, Dr Arnaldo Avenue 355, 11 floor, São Paulo, SP 01246-902, Brazil.

Background: is the main cause of bacterial meningitis in Brazil, where the main serogroups isolated are B and C; however, the serogroup W has recently emerged. LPS and type IV pili are important virulence factors that increase meningococci pathogenicity.

Methods: The characterization of Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and type IV pili in 19 meningococci strains of serogroup B, 21 of serogroup C, 45 of serogroup W and 28 of serogroup Y, isolated in Brazil between 2011 and 2017, was conducted using the Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (Dot- ELISA) technique and monoclonal antibodies. Read More

IDCases 2020 21;20:e00764. Epub 2020 Apr 21.

Pediatric Infectious Disease Clinical Care Center of Federal University of São Paulo, Pedro de Toledo Street 924/928 Vila Clementino, Zip Code 04039-002, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.

Chronic meningococcemia is a rare manifestation of meningococcal disease, characterized by a period of more than one week of intermittent or continuous fever, arthralgia and skin lesions without meningitis. It can occur both in previously healthy and immunocompromised patients. The gold standard for the diagnosis is culture isolation of in sterile material. Read More

Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 2020 May 16. Epub 2020 May 16.

Department of Pathology, Mater Dei Hospital, Tal-Qroqq, Msida, MSD2090, Malta.

Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) is a vaccine-preventable devastating infection that mainly affects infants, children and adolescents. We describe the population epidemiology of IMD in Malta in order to assess the potential utility of a meningococcal vaccination programme. All cases of microbiologically confirmed IMD in the Maltese population from 2000 to 2017 were analysed to quantify the overall and capsular-specific disease burden. Read More

Infect Genet Evol 2020 May 11:104360. Epub 2020 May 11.

Department of Infectious Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy. Electronic address:

Background: Neisseria meningitidis can cause sporadic cases and outbreaks of invasive disease, including meningitis and sepsis. The meningococcal serogroup C (MenC) is the second most common serogroup in Italy after MenB. In this study we have estimated the reproductive numbers and the demographic reconstruction on the genomes of invasive N. Read More

Vaccine 2020 Jun 6;38(28):4405-4411. Epub 2020 May 6.

Sanofi Pasteur, Swiftwater, PA, USA. Electronic address:

Background: Invasive meningococcal disease has a high mortality rate in individuals aged ≥56 years, but no vaccine is currently licensed in the USA for this age group. This study assessed the safety and immunogenicity of an investigational quadrivalent meningococcal tetanus toxoid conjugate vaccine (MenACYW-TT) compared with a meningococcal quadrivalent polysaccharide vaccine (MPSV4) in this age group.

Methods: This was a Phase III, modified double-blind, randomized, non-inferiority study (NCT02842866) across 35 clinical sites in the USA and Puerto Rico in individuals aged ≥56 years. Read More

Clin Infect Dis 2020 May 5. Epub 2020 May 5.

Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, a Division of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Background: Invasive meningococcal disease clusters occur amongst university students and may reflect higher carriage prevalence amongst this population. We aimed to measure meningococcal carriage prevalence, acquisition and risk factors amongst first-year university students in South Africa, a middle-income country.

Methods: In summer to autumn 2017, after consenting to participate, we collected oropharyngeal swabs and questionnaires on carriage risk factors and tested students for HIV infection at two universities, during registration week (survey one) and 6-8 weeks later (survey two). Read More

Hum Vaccin Immunother 2020 Apr 29:1-6. Epub 2020 Apr 29.

Vaccine Evaluation Unit, Public Health England, Manchester, UK.

Globally, there is an increasing number of international migrants. The majority are forced displaced refugees and children unaccompanied by a caregiver, and have limited access to essential public health interventions. Routine vaccination might be interrupted or be incomplete due to conflict areas with limited public health services or a long-unplanned journey. Read More

MEDICC Rev 2019 Oct;21(4):19-27

Every year, meningococcal infection by Neisseria meningitidis causes over 500,000 cases and 85,000 deaths in the world, with 20% of survivors suffering sequelae. In Cuba its incidence in 1980 reached 5.9 cases per 100,000 population; about 80% of cases were serogroup B, prompting health authorities to declare meningococcal disease the country's main public health problem. Read More

Expert Rev Vaccines 2020 Apr 29:1-9. Epub 2020 Apr 29.

Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

: For well over 100 years, meningococcal disease due to serogroup A (MenA) has caused severe epidemics globally, especially in the meningitis belt of sub-Saharan Africa.: The article reviews the background and identification of MenA, the global and molecular epidemiology of MenA, and the outbreaks of MenA in the African meningitis belt. The implementation (2010) of an equitable MenA polysaccharide-protein conjugate vaccine (Ps-TT, MenAfriVac) and the strategy to control MenA in sub-Saharan Africa is described. Read More

BMC Infect Dis 2020 Apr 20;20(1):292. Epub 2020 Apr 20.

Infectious Diseases Unit (Department of Internal Medicine), Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau - Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica Sant Pau. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.

Background: Studies on bacterial meningitis in diabetics patients versus non-diabetics are scarce. In patients with diabetes, bacterial meningitis may have a different presentation, etiology and course. We analyzed and compared the characteristics and outcome of spontaneous BM in adult patients with and without diabetes mellitus (DM). Read More

AMIA Annu Symp Proc 2019 4;2019:647-654. Epub 2020 Mar 4.

Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communication, National Library of Medicine, NIH Bethesda, MD.

Sharing of individual participant data is encouraged by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. We analyzed clinical trial registry data from ClinicalTrials.gov (CTG) and determined the proportion of trials sharing de-identified Individual Participant Data (IPD). Read More

Lancet 2020 04;395(10232):1230

Med J Aust 2020 Jun 12;212(10):453-456.e1. Epub 2020 Apr 12.

National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, Sydney Children's Hospital Network, Sydney, NSW.

mSphere 2020 Apr 8;5(2). Epub 2020 Apr 8.

Meningitis and Vaccine Preventable Diseases Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

In 2015 and 2016, meningococcal carriage evaluations were conducted at two universities in the United States following mass vaccination campaigns in response to serogroup B (NmB) disease outbreaks. A simultaneous carriage evaluation was also conducted at a university near one of the outbreaks, where no NmB cases were reported and no mass vaccination occurred. A total of ten cross-sectional carriage evaluation rounds were conducted, resulting in 1,514 meningococcal carriage isolates collected from 7,001 unique participants; 1,587 individuals were swabbed at multiple time points (repeat participants). Read More

Eur Neurol 2020 27;83(1):105-110. Epub 2020 Mar 27.

Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Wijlre, The Netherlands,

Objective: The aim of the work was to study the origin of the idea that herpes labialis (HL) in patients with pneumonia and meningitis was believed to be of prognostic importance.

Background: HL is caused by a primary infection or reactivation of herpes simplex type I. In the past, it has been related to pneumonia and meningitis; moreover, HL was believed to be of prognostic importance. Read More

mSphere 2020 Mar 25;5(2). Epub 2020 Mar 25.

Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.

The etiology of bacterial meningitis in Turkey changed after the implementation of conjugated vaccines against and type b (Hib) in the Turkish National Immunization Program (NIP). Administration of Hib vaccine and PCV-7 (7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine) was implemented in NIP in 2006 and 2009, respectively. In 2011, PCV-7 was replaced with PCV-13. Read More

mBio 2020 Mar 24;11(2). Epub 2020 Mar 24.

Department of Genetics and Genome Biology, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom

Host persistence of bacteria is facilitated by mutational and recombinatorial processes that counteract loss of genetic variation during transmission and selection from evolving host responses. Genetic variation was investigated during persistent asymptomatic carriage of Interrogation of whole-genome sequences for paired isolates from 25 carriers showed that mutations were infrequent, while horizontal gene transfer occurred in 16% of carriers. Examination of multiple isolates per time point enabled separation of sporadic and transient allelic variation from directional variation. Read More

PLoS Pathog 2020 Mar 24;16(3):e1008372. Epub 2020 Mar 24.

Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.

It is increasingly being recognised that the interplay between commensal and pathogenic bacteria can dictate the outcome of infection. Consequently, there is a need to understand how commensals interact with their human host and influence pathogen behaviour at epithelial surfaces. Neisseria meningitidis, a leading cause of sepsis and meningitis, exclusively colonises the human nasopharynx and shares this niche with several other Neisseria species, including the commensal Neisseria cinerea. Read More

Vaccine 2020 Apr 19;38(19):3545-3552. Epub 2020 Mar 19.

Meningococcal Reference Unit, Public Health England, Manchester, United Kingdom.

Diverse Neisseria meningitidis strains belonging to various serogroups and clonal complexes cause epidemic and endemic life-threatening disease worldwide. This study aimed to investigate the genetic diversity of recent invasive meningococci in Turkey with respect to multilocus sequence type (MLST) and also meningococcal serogroup B (MenB) vaccine antigens to enable assessment of potential MenB strain coverage using the genetic Meningococcal Antigen Typing System (gMATS). Fifty-four isolates, representing 37. Read More

Brain Sci 2020 Mar 17;10(3). Epub 2020 Mar 17.

Department of Emergency Medicine, Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, New Taipei City 231, Taiwan.

-induced acute systemic meningococcal disease is an emergency and a fatal condition that has a high mortality rate. In patients with a fulminant infection, a maculopapular petechial eruption, purpura fulminans, or an ecchymotic lesion are worrisome signs reflecting disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) and hint at Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome (WFS). Here, we describe a rare case of a patient with a fulminant induced acute systemic meningococcal disease presenting with high-grade fever without meningitis symptoms. Read More

Cell Microbiol 2020 Apr;22(4):e13185

Inserm, U1016, Institut Cochin, Paris, France.

Neisseria meningitidis (meningococcus) is a Gram-negative bacterium responsible for two devastating forms of invasive diseases: purpura fulminans and meningitis. Interaction with both peripheral and cerebral microvascular endothelial cells is at the heart of meningococcal pathogenesis. During the last two decades, an essential role for meningococcal type IV pili in vascular colonisation and disease progression has been unravelled. Read More

Vaccine 2020 Apr 13;38(16):3201-3209. Epub 2020 Mar 13.

Lydia Becker Institute of Immunology and Inflammation, School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK. Electronic address:

Neisseria meningitidis is the causative agent of meningococcal meningitis and sepsis and remains a significant public health problem in many countries. Efforts to develop a comprehensive vaccine against serogroup B meningococci have focused on the use of surface-exposed outer membrane proteins. Here we report the use of virus-like particles derived from the core protein of Hepatitis B Virus, HBc, to incorporate antigen domains derived from Factor H binding protein (FHbp) and the adhesin NadA. Read More

West Afr J Med 2020 Apr-Jun;37(2):189-196

Department of Paediatrics Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, Kaduna State,Nigeria.

Extremity gangrene is a fairly common pathology, which complicates systemic vascular and endocrine diseases. Most often, it is encountered in diseases like uncontrolled Diabetes Mellitus, presenting as diabetic foot gangrene, severe peripheral arteriosclerosis with gangrene of the extremity complicating severe uncontrolled systemic hypertension and meningococcal septicaemia with peripheral gangrene. It also occurs in some cases of snake bite as well as frost bite (in regions with extreme cold weather conditions). Read More

Postgrad Med 2020 Mar 3;132(2):184-191. Epub 2020 Mar 3.

Vaccine Medical Development, Scientific & Clinical Affairs, Pfizer Inc, Collegeville, PA, USA.

Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) is a potentially devastating infection associated with high mortality and long-term sequelae; however, vaccines are available to protect against the five common disease-causing serogroups (A, B, C, W, and Y). Because traditional field efficacy clinical trials were not feasible due to low IMD incidence that necessitates a very large number of participants, serum bactericidal antibody (SBA) assays using rabbit (rSBA) or human (hSBA) complement were established as surrogates of meningococcal vaccine efficacy and are now routinely used to support vaccine licensure. Specifically, rSBA assays have been used to evaluate responses to meningococcal capsular polysaccharide-protein conjugate vaccines against serogroups A, C, W, and Y; the accepted correlate of protection for rSBA assays is a titer ≥1:8. Read More

Neurol Neurochir Pol 2020 ;54(1):6-7

Department of Neurology, Department of Critical Care Medicine, Department of Neurosurgery, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida, USA.

Introduction: In this edition, Szymanski et al. present the results of their retrospective study of the clinical differences between patients with meningococcal meningitis and pneumococcal cerebrospinal meningitis at the Regional Specialistic Hospital in Wroclaw, Poland.

Clinical Reflections: The authors found that compared to patients with N. Read More

Emerg Infect Dis 2020 Mar;26(3):454-462

Emergency vaccination programs often are needed to control outbreaks of meningococcal disease caused by Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B (MenB) on college campuses. Such campaigns expend multiple campus and public health resources. We conducted a randomized, controlled, multicenter, observer-blinded trial comparing immunogenicity and tolerability of an accelerated vaccine schedule of 0 and 21 days to a longer interval of 0 and 60 days for 4-component MenB vaccine (MenB-4C) in students 17-25 years of age. Read More

BMC Public Health 2020 Feb 19;20(1):254. Epub 2020 Feb 19.

UNICEF, New York, NY, 10017, USA.

Background: Meningococcal serogroup A conjugate vaccine (MACV) was introduced in 2017 into the routine childhood immunization schedule (at 15-18 months of age) in Burkina Faso to help reduce meningococcal meningitis burden. MACV was scheduled to be co-administered with the second dose of measles-containing vaccine (MCV2), a vaccine already in the national schedule. One year following the introduction of MACV, an assessment was conducted to qualitatively examine health workers' perceptions of MACV introduction, identify barriers to uptake, and explore opportunities to improve coverage. Read More

Hum Genet 2020 Feb 17. Epub 2020 Feb 17.

Department of Paediatric Infectious Disease, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, Norfolk Place, London, W2 1PG, UK.

Neisseria meningitidis is a leading cause of bacterial septicaemia and meningitis worldwide. Meningococcal disease is rare but can be life threatening with a tendency to affect children. Many studies have investigated the role of human genetics in predisposition to N. Read More

FEBS Lett 2020 Feb 14. Epub 2020 Feb 14.

Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA.

Neisseria gonorrhoeae causes the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhea, while Neisseria meningitidis is an important cause of bacterial meningitis and sepsis. Complement is a central arm of innate immune defenses and plays an important role in combating Neisserial infections. Persons with congenital and acquired defects in complement are at a significantly higher risk for invasive Neisserial infections such as invasive meningococcal disease and disseminated gonococcal infection compared to the general population. Read More

PLoS One 2020 13;15(2):e0228629. Epub 2020 Feb 13.

Irish Meningitis and Sepsis Reference Laboratory, Children's Health Ireland, Dublin, Ireland.

This study examined the capsular phenotype and genotype of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD)-associated Neisseria meningitidis recovered in the Republic of Ireland (RoI) between 1996 and 2015. This time period encompasses both pre- (when IMD was hyperendemic in the RoI) and post- meningococcal serogroup C conjugate (MCC) vaccine introduction. In total, 1327 isolates representing over one-third of all laboratory-confirmed cases of IMD diagnosed each epidemiological year (EY), were characterised. Read More

Intern Med J 2020 Feb 11. Epub 2020 Feb 11.

Infectious Diseases Physician, Department of Infectious Diseases, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia.

Background: Historically, Australian cases of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) have been most frequently caused by Neisseria meningitidis serogroup-B, but recently an increase in cases due to serogroup-W (MenW) and serogroup-Y (MenY) has occurred.

Aims: To determine whether clinical manifestations of IMD have changed due to increased incidence of MenW and MenY.

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of IMD cases notified to the Department of Health and Human Services in Victoria, Australia. Read More

J Chemother 2020 Apr 10;32(2):98-102. Epub 2020 Feb 10.

Department of Health Sciences, University of Florence and Meyer Children's University Hospital, Florence, Italy.

We present the first Italian reported case of an invasive meningococcal disease with rifampicin-resistance (Rif-R)secondary to chemoprophylaxis. The case is entered in a cluster of two IMDs registered in Tuscany, Italy, in November 2019 caused by two non-differentiable group-C belonging to ST-11 clonal-complex. The contact case, differently from the index, harbored H552Y mutation on gene which is known to confer Rif-R putting a high-cost fee on bacterial fitness. Read More

Genome Biol Evol 2020 02;12(2):3938-3950

The Marshall Centre for Infectious Diseases Research and Training, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia.

Neisseria spp. possess four genogroups of filamentous prophages, termed Nf1 to 4. A filamentous bacteriophage from the Nf1 genogroup termed meningococcal disease-associated phage (MDA φ) is associated with clonal complexes of Neisseria meningitidis that cause invasive meningococcal disease. Read More

J Chemother 2020 Feb 7:1-4. Epub 2020 Feb 7.

Department of Medical Microbiology, Istanbul University Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey.

() is regarded as the leading cause of bacterial meningitis in many regions of the world. The empiric antimicrobial treatment is mainly based on antimicrobial resistance and patient characteristics. We aimed to analyze susceptibility patterns of N. Read More

NPJ Vaccines 2020 29;5. Epub 2020 Jan 29.

Pfizer Vaccine Research and Development, Pearl River, NY USA.

MenB-FHbp is a recombinant meningococcal serogroup B (MenB) vaccine composed of 2 factor H binding proteins (FHbps). Meningococcal vaccines targeting polysaccharide serogroup A, C, Y, and W capsules were licensed upon confirmation of bactericidal antibody induction after initial efficacy studies with serogroup A and C vaccines. Unlike meningococcal polysaccharide vaccines, wherein single strains demonstrated bactericidal antibodies per serogroup for each vaccine, MenB-FHbp required a more robust approach to demonstrate that bactericidal antibody induction could kill strains with diverse FHbp sequences. Read More

PLoS One 2020 28;15(1):e0228020. Epub 2020 Jan 28.

Institute for Applied Health Research Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

Background: Limited data is available to describe clinical characteristics, long-term outcomes, healthcare resource use and the attributable costs of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) in Germany. We aimed to examine demographic and clinical characteristics as well as healthcare resource use and related costs.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study based on the InGef database in patients with IMD between 2009 and 2015. Read More

Epidemiol Infect 2020 Jan 27;148:e12. Epub 2020 Jan 27.

Medical Affairs, Pfizer SRL, Colectora Panamericana 1804, 1° piso, Sector "B" lado Sur, B1607EEV, Villa Adelina, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Neisseria meningitidis, a gram-negative diplococcus, is typically an asymptomatic coloniser of the oropharynx and nasopharynx. Passage of N. meningitidis into the bloodstream can cause invasive meningococcal disease (IMD), a potentially life-threatening illness with rapid onset that generally presents as meningitis, septicemia or both. Read More

Vaccine 2020 Feb 21;38(8):1943-1952. Epub 2020 Jan 21.

National Reference Centre for Bacterial Meningitis, National Medicines Institute, Warsaw, Poland.

Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B (MenB) has recently become the major cause of invasive meningococcal disease in Poland. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to characterize MenB isolates, responsible for invasive meningococcal disease in 2010-2016, by MLST and sequencing of genes encoding proteins used as 4CMenB vaccine antigens. Two methods of coverage estimation were performed: extrapolation of MATS results of Polish meningococci 2010-2011 (exMATS) and gMATS, which combines genotyping and MATS results. Read More

N Engl J Med 2020 01;382(4):379-382

Neurol Neurochir Pol 2020 20;54(1):39-46. Epub 2020 Jan 20.

Uniwersytet Medyczny im. Piastów Śląskich we Wrocławiu.

Neisseria meningitidis and Streptococcus pneumoniae are the most common pathogens causing cerebrospinal meningitis (CSM) in adults. The mortality rate and the number of complications remain high. In our study, retrospective evaluations were conducted on data concerning 98 adult patients with bacterial cerebrospinal meningitis caused by Neisseria meningitidis (n = 42) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (n = 56), hospitalised at the Regional Specialistic Hospital in Wroclaw (Poland) within the period 1998-2018. Read More

Hum Vaccin Immunother 2020 Jan 17:1-6. Epub 2020 Jan 17.

Department of Pediatrics, Santa Casa de São Paulo School of Medical Sciences, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The recent licensure of two different serogroup B recombinant protein meningococcal vaccines in Brazil emphasizes the importance of a better knowledge of the real burden of serogroup B meningococcal (MenB) disease to establish evidence-based vaccination policies. We performed an observational, descriptive study, from 2001 to 2015, analyzing the incidence and case fatality rates (CFR) of MenB disease in Brazil, according to age group and region. In the absence of any vaccine use targeting MenB disease, a significant decline of 90% in the overall incidence rates of MenB disease was observed (from 0. Read More

Clin Microbiol Infect 2020 Jan 11. Epub 2020 Jan 11.

Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. Electronic address:

Objectives: Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) is a severe bacterial infection that displays wintertime seasonality in temperate countries. Mechanisms driving seasonality are poorly understood and may include environmental conditions and/or respiratory virus infections. We evaluated the contribution of influenza and environmental conditions to IMD risk, using standardized methodology, across multiple geographical regions. Read More

J Clin Microbiol 2020 Feb 24;58(3). Epub 2020 Feb 24.

Institut Pasteur, Invasive Bacterial Infections Unit and National Reference Centre for Meningococci and Haemophilus influenzae, Paris, France.

Meningococcal meningitis remains a life-threatening disease worldwide, with high prevalence in the sub-Saharan meningitis belt. A rapid diagnosis is crucial for implementing adapted antimicrobial treatment. We describe the performances of a new immunochromatographic test (MeningoSpeed, BioSpeedia, France) for detecting and grouping Cerebrospinal fluids (CSFs) were collected from 5 African countries and France. Read More

Med J Aust 2020 02 7;212(2):89-93. Epub 2020 Jan 7.

Communicable Disease Control Branch, Department for Health and Wellbeing, Adelaide, SA.

Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) is an uncommon but life-threatening infection caused by Neisseria meningitidis. Serogroups B, C, W and Y cause most IMD cases in Australia. The highest incidence occurs in children under 5 years of age. Read More

J Infect 2020 Mar 2;80(3):286-290. Epub 2020 Jan 2.

Immunisation and Countermeasures Division, Public Health England, 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5EQ, United Kingdom; Paediatric Infectious Diseases Research Group (PIDRG), St. George's University of London, Cranmer Terrace, London SW17 0RE, United Kingdom. Electronic address:

Background: Neisseria meningitidis is a major cause of bacterial meningitis and septicaemia, with death often occurring rapidly after onset of the first symptoms. Later death can also occur, but may be due to other causes, such as underlying comorbidities. The study aimed to assess the timing and cause of death in patients with invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) prior to the introduction of two new meningococcal immunisation programmes in England. Read More

Malays J Pathol 2019 Dec;41(3):351-354

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Introduction: Neisseria meningitidis infections often cause severe meningitis as well as bacteraemia. However, cellulitis in meningococcal diseases have rarely been described. Here, we report a case of right lower limb cellulitis caused by N. Read More

EBioMedicine 2020 01 2;51:102564. Epub 2020 Jan 2.

Meningitis and Vaccine Preventable Diseases Branch, Division of Bacterial Diseases, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd NE, MS D-11, Atlanta, GA 30329, United States. Electronic address: