Outbreak of invasive meningococcal disease in goleniów county, north-west Poland, march 2009

Abstract

In March 2009, six cases of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) were reported in two communes of Goleniów County in north-west Poland. The people affected were aged from seven to 25 years. The overall incidence rate in the county was eight per 100,000 population. All the patients recovered fully. No epidemiological links were established between the cases. All were infected with Neisseria meningitidis serogroup C, sequence type (ST) 11 and analysis of isolate DNA restriction fragment length polymorphism showed indistinguishable pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns. Sequencing of porA and fetA genes revealed that all isolates had PorA variant P1.5,2 and FetA variant F3-3. Based on epidemiological and microbiological data, the Polish Working Party on Meningococcal Infections took the decision to compulsorily vaccinate populations at highest risk in the region - primarily people aged from 6 to 19 years.