Does eradication of meningococcal carriage in household contacts prevent secondary cases of meningococcal disease?

Abstract

Effectiveness in eradicating nasopharyngeal carriage of meningococci is considered an appropriate criterion for selecting chemoprophylactic agents for meningococcal disease. As most previous studies have examined short term effectiveness and as four secondary cases in this outbreak occurred up to five months after prophylaxis we examined whether carriage of outbreak strains was persistently reduced after rifampicin was given.