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Kim, Lee, Lee, Lee, Choi, Kim, Kang, Kim, and Lee: Carriage Rates and Serogroups of Neisseria meningitides in Children Attending Day Care Centers
Original Article

Korean Journal of Pediatric Infectious Diseases 2009; 16(1): 31-39.

Published online: 30 June 2009

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14776/kjpid.2009.16.1.31

Carriage Rates and Serogroups of Neisseria meningitides in Children Attending Day Care Centers

Nam Hee Kim, Jina Lee, Jung Won Lee, Soo Young Lee, Eun Hwa Choi, Kyung Hyo Kim, Jin Han Kang, Eui Chong Kim, Hoan Jong Lee

Department of Pediatrics, Inje University Ilsanpaik Hospital, Korea.

Department of Pediatrics, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Korea.

Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine Ewha Womans University, Korea.

Department of Pediatrics, The Catholic University of Korea, Korea.

Department of Pediatrics, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Korea.

Deparment of Laboratory Medicine Seoul National University College of Medicine, Korea.

hoanlee@snu.ac.kr

Copyright © 2009 The Korean Society of Pediatric Infectious Diseases

Abstract

Purpose

Neisseria meningitides is one of the most common causative pathogens of bacteremia and meningitis. Recently protein-conjugated vaccines have been developed and included in the routine vaccination schedule in a few countries. In Korea, carriage rates of N. meningitides among healthy adults have been reported. However, systematic data for childhood carriage rates are not available. This study was performed to evaluate the carriage rates of N. meningitides and the serotype distribution among healthy children attending day care centers.

Methods

During the period of January through May 2005, nasopharyngeal swabs and culture were obtained from 904 children attending 13 different day care centers located in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. The Vitek NHI card was used to identify N. meningitides and the crgA gene was detected via polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Serotype determination was performed by agglutination test using N. meningitides antisera to serotypes A, B, C, D, 29E, W135, X, Y, and Z. PCR for detection of the org2 and saiD gene confirmed serotypes A, B, C, W135, and Y.

Results

The mean age among 904 children was 4.5 years; 6.5% (59/904) were children < 2 years old, 53.8% (486/904) were 2-5 years old, and 39.7% (359/904) were >5 years old; 52.0% (468/904) were male. N. meningitides was isolated from only 7 children attending 5 different day care centers and the overall carriage rate of N. meningitides was 0.8%. The detected serotypes of N. meningitides were serotype A (n=2), C (n=2), and Y (n=3).

Conclusion

The carriage rate of N. meningitides among healthy children attending day care centers was very low in Korea and the detected serotypes were A, C, and Y.

Keywords: Neisseria meningitides, Carriage, Children, Korea

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