Epidemiology of invasive meningococcal disease worldwide from 2010-2019: a literature review

Abstract

The epidemiology of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) is unpredictable, varies by region and age group and continuously evolves. This review aimed to describe trends in the incidence of IMD and serogroup distribution by age group and global region over time. Data were extracted from 90 subnational, national and multinational grey literature surveillance reports and 22 published articles related to the burden of IMD from 2010 to 2019 in 77 countries. The global incidence of IMD was generally low, with substantial variability between regions in circulating disease-causing serogroups. The highest incidence was usually observed in infants, generally followed by young children and adolescents/young adults, as well as older adults in some countries. Globally, serogroup B was a predominant cause of IMD in most countries. Additionally, there was a notable increase in the number of IMD cases caused by serogroups W and Y from 2010 to 2019 in several regions, highlighting the unpredictable and dynamic nature of the disease. Overall, serogroups A, B, C, W and Y were responsible for the vast majority of IMD cases, despite the availability of vaccines to prevent disease due to these serogroups.

Keywords: Epidemiology; Neisseria meningitidis; incidence; meningococcal disease; vaccine-preventable diseases.

Fig. 1.

Flow chart of included grey literature reports and publications. IMD, invasive meningococcal disease.

Fig. 2.

Percentage serogroup distribution of IMD cases worldwide from 2017 to 2019 (geographical regions with available data) [, , , –, , , –33]. Data from China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Japan, Kuwait, Mozambique, Paraguay, South Korea, Uruguay and Venezuela are not shown. Percentages may not sum to 100% due to rounding. *Serogroup A is included in the “Other” category. ^†Serogroups other than B, C, W and Y are included in the NG category. ^‡Among the African meningitis belt countries (listed in the Supplementary Material), Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Sudan, Chad and Togo contributed serogroup data for 2019. IMD, invasive meningococcal disease; NG, nongroupable.

Fig. 3.

Percentage serogroup distribution of IMD cases in selected European countries in 2018 [19]. Percentages may not sum to 100% due to rounding. All serogroup A percentages are directly labelled. IMD, invasive meningococcal disease; NG, nongroupable.