Seroepidemiologic aspects of Neisseria meningitidis in homosexual men

Neisseria meningitidis has been isolated with increasing frequency from specimens obtained from patients attending venereal disease clinics and is an occasional cause of genital infection. Among 383 homosexual men attending either a venereal disease clinic or a community screening clinic meningococci were cultured from specimens obtained from 35.0% of all the subjects, and with similar frequency in the two groups. Of the positive specimens 93.5% were from the throat, 5.8% from the rectum and 0.72% from the urethra. The serogroups and serotypes of the isolates were characteristic of those commonly found in nasopharyngeal specimens from other asymptomatic carriers. Gonococci were isolated from 8.6% of all the subjects and were 1.4 times more common in those who also harboured meningococci. Of the cultures positive for gonococci, 14.7% were from the throat and 85.3% from the rectum. The two bacteria were rarely isolated from the same site in the same individual. Gonococci, but not meningococci, were significantly more common (P less than 0.05) in the group attending the venereal disease, clinic than in the group attending the screening clinic, the rates being 17.1% and 7.0%.