Meningococcal infections in Scotland 1972–82

Abstract

Summary: Strains ofNeisseria meningitidisisolated from patients with meningitis or septicaemia without meningitis in Scotland during the years 1972–82 have been reviewed together with details of the age, sex, disease and outcome of the patients from whom they were isolated. A total of 1185 strains were isolated, of which 927 were examined at the Meningococcal Reference Laboratory (Scotland): 19·3% were of serogroup A, 63% of group B, 9·6% of group C, 6% of W135 and 1·6% of other groups. Non-groupable strains were rare. Disease was most common in the first years of life but there was a difference in the age distribution of disease due to the different serogroups, the proportion of disease due to group B being smaller in adults than that due to other serogroups. The overall mortality in meningitis was 7·5% and in septicaemia was 20·6%, although there were differences between the rates for the various serogroups. The serogroup distribution differed in disease as opposed to meningococci isolated from carriers although group B strains were predominant in both series. Overall, approximately 15% of strains were resistant to sulphadiazine, the proportion of resistant group A strains being higher than that of other serogroups.