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Published on: November 5, 2019

Multicenter surveillance of invasive meningococcal infections in children

Sheldon L Kaplan1, Gordon E Schutze, John A D Leake

  • 1Pediatric Infectious Diseases Section, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA. skaplan@bcm.tmc.edu

Pediatrics
|October 4, 2006
PubMed

Insights

Meningococcal disease remains a significant threat to children, with serogroup B being most common. Post-vaccination surveillance is crucial to assess the impact of new meningococcal conjugate vaccines.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric infectious diseases
  • Epidemiology
  • Vaccinology

Background:

  • Meningococcal disease causes significant childhood illness and death in the U.S.
  • Recent surveillance data on serogroup distribution and outcomes in children is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To gather comprehensive data on pediatric Neisseria meningitidis infections.
  • To collect demographic, clinical, laboratory, and outcome information for children with various serogroups.

Main Methods:

  • Multi-center study involving 10 pediatric hospitals.
  • Standardized data collection for clinical and demographic information.
  • Centralized laboratory analysis for serogrouping and antibiotic susceptibility.

Main Results:

  • 159 episodes of invasive meningococcal disease identified between 2001-2005.
  • Serogroup B (44%) was most prevalent, followed by C (26%) and Y (22%).
  • Mortality was 8% overall, higher in older children (>11 years). Hearing loss occurred in 12.5% of meningitis cases.

Conclusions:

  • Meningococcal infections lead to substantial morbidity and mortality in children.
  • Establishment of baseline disease trends is vital for evaluating the effectiveness of meningococcal conjugate vaccines.
Abstract

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