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Prevalence of Neisseria meningitidis carriers in the school population of Catalonia, Spain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2002

A. DOMÍNGUEZ
Affiliation:
General Directorate of Public Health, Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
N. CARDEÑOSA
Affiliation:
General Directorate of Public Health, Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
C. IZQUIERDO
Affiliation:
General Directorate of Public Health, Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
F. SÁNCHEZ
Affiliation:
Department of Microbiology, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain
N. MARGALL
Affiliation:
Department of Microbiology, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain
J. A. VÁZQUEZ
Affiliation:
Reference Laboratory for Neisseria, CNMVIS. Instituto Carlos III, Mahadahonda, Madrid, Spain
L. SALLERAS
Affiliation:
General Directorate of Public Health, Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
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Abstract

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The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of healthy Neisseria meningitidis pharyngeal carriers in a representative sample of the Catalonian school population, as well as its associated factors. The sample was divided into age groups: [les ]5, 6–7 and 13–14 years old. Parents were given a questionnaire to collect information on sociodemographic and epidemiological variables. Oropharyngeal swabs were collected with a cotton-tipped swab in an Amies transport medium and cultured on Thayer Martin plates at 35 °C in 5% CO2. The isolates were serogrouped and sero/subtyped. Of the 1406 children studied, 75 (5·34%) meningococcal carriers were detected: 63 B (4·5%), 9 non groupable (0·7%), 2 29E (0·1%) and 1X (0·07%). No serogroup C meningococci were found in this study, probably due to the high A+C vaccination coverage of up to 68·9% in children 6–7 years old. Bivariate analysis identified six statistically significant risk factors for meningococcal carriage: increasing age, recent upper respiratory tract infection, previous antibiotic treatment, number of students in the class, size of the classroom and social class. Multivariate analysis found that only age and previous antibiotic treatment remained statistically significant when the other factors were controlled.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2001 Cambridge University Press