Cluster of serogroup C meningococcal disease associated with attendance at a party

• Published in: Southern medical journal (Birmingham, Ala.) Vol. 94; no. 12; pp. 1192 - 1194
• Main Authors: FINN, Rebecca, GROVES, Carmela, COE, Melanie, PASS, Margaret, HARRISON, Lee H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hagerstown, MD Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 01.12.2001
• Subjects: Adult; Alcohol Drinking; Bacterial diseases; Bacterial diseases of the nervous system. Bacterial myositis; Biological and medical sciences; Disease Outbreaks; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; Fatal Outcome; Human bacterial diseases; Humans; Infectious diseases; Leisure Activities; Male; Maryland - epidemiology; Medical sciences; Meningitis, Meningococcal - epidemiology; Neisseria meningitidis - genetics; Neisseria meningitidis - isolation & purification; Risk Factors; Smoking; Maryland; Human; Infection; Case study; Nervous system diseases; Central nervous system disease; Adolescent; Bacteriosis; Meningitis; Diagnosis; Epidemiology; Incidence; Meningococcal disease
• ISSN: 0038-4348; 1541-8243
• DOI: 10.1097/00007611-200112000-00012

An unexplained increase has occurred in the incidence of invasive meningococcal disease in adolescents and young adults. We investigated a cluster of serogroup C meningococcal disease in 3 previously healthy young adults who had attended a party in Maryland. Molecular subtyping was done on the isolates from the 3 cluster cases and 4 control isolates by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). The only common exposure was attendance at the party, where a large number of people reportedly smoked tobacco or marijuana and/or drank alcohol. The PFGE analysis of the 3 case isolates showed identical molecular subtypes. This investigation strongly suggests that transmission of the cluster strain occurred at the party. Transmission may have occurred in part as a result of the recently described risk factors of binge drinking and smoking. Taken together, these findings suggest that some of the recent increase in invasive meningococcal disease may be due to modifiable risk factors.