Nasopharyngeal carriers of Neisseria meningitidis. Studies among air force recruits

Abstract

Nearly 16% of a sample of recruits who entered Lackland Air Force Base from civilian life for basic military training during Jan. to March 1965 were nasopharyngeal carriers of N. meningitidis. The organisms recovered were predominantly group B. A small but significant decrease in the prevalence of carriers, to 9.7% in the last week of training, occurred during the 6-week training period. Only 15% of the group B organisms isolated were resistant to sulfadiazine and there was no increase, during the training period, in the number of men who harbored resistant organisms.