Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 May;20(5):806-11.
doi: 10.3201/eid2005.130948.

Carriage rate and effects of vaccination after outbreaks of serogroup C meningococcal disease, Brazil, 2010

Marco Aurelio Palazzi Sáfadi, Telma Regina Marques Pinto Carvalhanas, Ana Paula de Lemos, Maria Cecilia Outeiro Gorla, Maristela Salgado, Lucila O Fukasawa, Maria Gisele Gonçalves, Fabio Higa, Maria Cristina Cunto Brandileone, Claudio Tavares Sacchi, Ana Freitas Ribeiro, Helena Keico Sato, Lucia Ferro Bricks, José Cassio de Moraes

Carriage rate and effects of vaccination after outbreaks of serogroup C meningococcal disease, Brazil, 2010

Marco Aurelio Palazzi Sáfadi et al. Emerg Infect Dis. 2014 May.

Abstract

During 2010, outbreaks of serogroup C meningococcal (MenC) disease occurred in 2 oil refineries in São Paulo State, Brazil, leading to mass vaccination of employees at 1 refinery with a meningococcal polysaccharide A/C vaccine. A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the prevalence of meningococci carriage among workers at both refineries and to investigate the effect of vaccination on and the risk factors for pharyngeal carriage of meningococci. Among the vaccinated and nonvaccinated workers, rates of overall meningococci carriage (21.4% and 21.6%, respectively) and of MenC carriage (6.3% and 4.9%, respectively) were similar. However, a MenC strain belonging to the sequence type103 complex predominated and was responsible for the increased incidence of meningococcal disease in Brazil. A low education level was associated with higher risk of meningococci carriage. Polysaccharide vaccination did not affect carriage or interrupt transmission of the epidemic strain. These findings will help inform future vaccination strategies.

Keywords: Brazil; Neisseria meningitidis; bacteria; epidemic strain; herd immunity; meningococcal carriage; meningococcal vaccines; meningococcus; serogroup C; transmission; vaccination.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Brazilian Ministry of Health. Health surveillance [cited 2012 Aug 20]. http://portal.saude.gov.br/portal/saude/area.cfm?id_area=962.
    1. Sáfadi MA, González-Ayala S, Jäkel A, Wieffer H, Moreno C, Vyse A. The epidemiology of meningococcal disease in Latin America 1945–2010: an unpredictable and changing landscape. Epidemiol Infect. 2013;141:447–58 . 10.1017/S0950268812001689 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Centro de Vigilância Epidemiológica. "Prof. Alexandre Vranjac" (Epidemiologic Surveillance Center), Brazil. Respiratory transmitted diseases [in Portuguese] [cited 2012 Aug 30]. http://www.cve.saude.sp.gov.br/htm/resp/dm_soro.htm
    1. Iser BPM, Lima CAV, de Moraes C, de Almeida RP, Watanabe LT, Alves SL, et al. Outbreak of Neisseria meningitidis C in workers at a large food-processing plant in Brazil: challenges of controlling disease spread to the larger community. Epidemiol Infect. 2012;140:906–15. 10.1017/S0950268811001610 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gorla MC, de Lemos AP, Quaresma M, Vilasboas R, Marques O, de Sá MU, et al. Phenotypic and molecular characterization of serogroup C Neisseria meningitidis associated with an outbreak in Bahia, Brazil. Enferm Infecc Microbiol Clin. 2012;30:56–9. 10.1016/j.eimc.2011.07.022 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources