Abstract

MACUARISMA VELASQUEZ, Pedro; LAYA, Janette  and  MACUARISMA LEZAMA, Pedro. Neisseria Meningitidis invasive disease, epidemiological alert. Arch Venez Puer Ped [online]. 2013, vol.76, n.4, pp.138-143. ISSN 0004-0649.

In countries were conjugate vaccines against Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae, have been incorporated, Neisseria meningitidis is the major bacterial pathogen causing invasive disease. Invasive meningococcal disease is associated with a high mortality rate. Objectives. To describe unexpected aggregation of invasive meningococcal disease. Methods. Inception cohort: Definite or probable cases of infection with Neisseria meningitidis. Information about the patient and his disease, the causative agent and the environment was registered. Incidence rate by age and municipality of residence, serogroups of Neisseria meningitidis, and antibiotic susceptibility pattern were determined. Results. Between the epidemiological weeks 1-41 of 2012, 15 cases of invasive meningococcal disease in children under 15 years of age, living in the state of Sucre, Venezuela were identified. The incidence rate for Cruz Salmerón Acosta and Sucre municipalities was 33.7 x 105 and 6.7 x 105 children <15 years of age, respectively. The disease shows greater dispersion in incidence by age group, aggregation in space and time and a cyclical trend. Confirmed cases were 10 of 15, 4 cases of Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B and 6 cases of Neisseria meningitidis serogroup C. Overall mortality rate was 6 of 15; sequelae were present in one third of the survivors. Conclusions. This study describes an unexpected frequency of invasive meningococcal disease in the Sucre and Salmeron Acosta Municipalities, Sucre State, Venezuela. This information may be useful to guide intervention measures design.

Keywords : meningococcal infections / epidemiology; invasive meningococcal disease; meningitis surveillance system; meningococcal infections / prevention and control; epidemiological surveillance.

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