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. 2018 Jan 2;36(1):29-35.
doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2017.11.040. Epub 2017 Nov 26.

Meningococcal carriage among a university student population - United States, 2015

Lucy Breakwell  1 , Melissa Whaley  2 , Unab I Khan  3 , Utpala Bandy  4 , Nicole Alexander-Scott  4 , Lynn Dupont  3 , Cindy Vanner  4 , How-Yi Chang  2 , Jeni T Vuong  2 , Stacey Martin  2 , Jessica R MacNeil  2 , Xin Wang  2 , Sarah A Meyer  5
Affiliations

Meningococcal carriage among a university student population - United States, 2015

Lucy Breakwell et al. Vaccine. .

Abstract

Objectives: Several outbreaks of serogroup B meningococcal disease have occurred among university students in recent years. In the setting of high coverage of the quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine and prior to widespread use of serogroup B meningococcal vaccines among adolescents, we conducted surveys to characterize the prevalence and molecular characteristics of meningococcal carriage among university students.

Methods: Two cross-sectional oropharyngeal carriage surveys were conducted among undergraduates at a Rhode Island university. Isolates were characterized using slide agglutination, real-time polymerase chain reaction (rt-PCR), and whole genome sequencing. Adjusted prevalence ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated using Poisson regression to determine risk factors for carriage.

Results: A total of 1837 oropharyngeal specimens were obtained from 1478 unique participants. Overall carriage prevalence was 12.7-14.6% during the two survey rounds, with 1.8-2.6% for capsular genotype B, 0.9-1.0% for capsular genotypes C, W, or Y, and 9.9-10.8% for nongroupable strains by rt-PCR. Meningococcal carriage was associated with being male, smoking, party or club attendance, recent antibiotic use (inverse correlation), and recent respiratory infections.

Conclusions: In this university setting, the majority of meningococcal carriage was due to nongroupable strains, followed by serogroup B. Further evaluation is needed to understand the dynamics of serogroup B carriage and disease among university students.

Keywords: Carriage; Meningococcal disease; Meningococcal infections; Meningococcal vaccines; Neisseria meningitidis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest statement

We declare that we have no conflicts of interest.

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