[Meningococcus group carrier status in Chinese recruits]

During the period, May 1974 approximately April 1975, 4 groups of Chinese basic training recruits from different cities in Taiwan were examined for cases of nasopharyngeal Neisseria meningitidis. Before training the carrier rate of N. meningitidis was 13.7%. However, 7 approximately 8 weeks after training the carrier rate had increased to 20%. The majority of strains isolated were serogroup A. However, serogroups C and B, in that order of frequency, were also isolated. Only four strains were serologically untypable. Of 344 strains tested for drug susceptibility, 186 (54.1)% of these strains were found to be resistant to sulfadiazine.