Meningococcemia natural history


 * Associate Editor(s)-In-Chief:

Natural History

 * Before antibiotics the case fatality rate was over 50%, particularly dangerous in infants and elderly (84% and 72% respectively). Now it is often as low as 8% in major medical centers.

Risk Stratification and Prognosis

 * Current vaccines have polysaccharides of groups A, C, Y, and W-135. No vaccine available presently for group B disease since the polysaccharide is not sufficiently immunogenic to produce a reliable antibody response in humans to be effective.
 * Rates of meningococcus in US college students as a whole 0.7 per 100,000.
 * Rates of meningococcus in US persons aged 18-23 not in college 1.5 per 100,000.
 * Rates of freshmen living in dormitories 4.6 per 100,000.
 * Rates for college students in UK 13.2 per 100,000 versus those not in college of 5.5 per 100,000.