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Epidemiology, Surveillance, and Population Biology

Carriage Studies

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Meningococcal Disease

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Medicine™ ((MIMM,volume 67))

Abstract

Seven years after meningococci were first grown from patients with meningitis (1), Kiefer reported the isolation of the organisms from the nasopharynx of cases of meningococcal disease, and from their contacts (2). The importance of nasopharyngeal acquisition and carriage as a key step in the development of invasive meningococcal infection was rapidly appreciated, as was the far greater frequency of the carrier state when compared with the relatively small numbers of individuals developing invasive disease. Attempts to interpret the significance of variations in the bacteria themselves as a factor influencing the outcome of the interaction between humans and meningococcus had to await the development of the first typing systems based on serological reagents (3). It became clear rapidly that meningococcal strains isolated from the blood or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with invasive disease were more likely to be typable than strains from the nasopharynx of individuals who were asymptomatic carriers.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Public Health Laboratory, Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, UK

    Keith Cartwright

Authors
  1. Keith Cartwright
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. BC Research Institute for Children’s and Women’s Health, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Andrew J. Pollard MD, PhD

  2. Wellcome Trust Centre for the Epidemiology of Infectious Disease, Oxford, UK

    Martin C. J. Maiden PhD

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© 2001 Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ

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Cartwright, K. (2001). Epidemiology, Surveillance, and Population Biology. In: Walker, J.M., Pollard, A.J., Maiden, M.C.J. (eds) Meningococcal Disease. Methods in Molecular Medicine™, vol 67. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-149-3:293

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-149-3:293

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-89603-849-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-149-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

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