Meningococcal carriage by age in the African meningitis belt: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Laura Cooper, Paul Kristiansen, Hannah Christensen, Andromachi Karachaliou, Caroline Trotter

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)
165 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Meningococcal carriage dynamics drive patterns of invasive disease. The distribution of carriage by age has been well described in Europe, but not in the African meningitis belt, a region characterised by frequent epidemics of meningitis. We aimed to estimate the age-specific prevalence of meningococcal carriage by season in the African meningitis belt. We searched PubMed, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library and grey literature for papers reporting carriage of Neisseria meningitidis in defined age groups in the African meningitis belt. We used a mixed-effects logistic regression to model meningococcal carriage prevalence as a function of age, adjusting for season, location and year. Carriage prevalence increased from low prevalence in infants (0.595% in the rainy season, 95% CI 0.482–0.852%) to a broad peak at age 10 (1.94%, 95% CI 1.87–2.47%), then decreased in adolescence. The odds of carriage were significantly increased during the dry season (OR 1.5 95% CI 1.4–1.7) and during outbreaks (OR 6.7 95% CI 1.6–29). Meningococcal carriage in the African meningitis belt peaks at a younger age compared to Europe. This is consistent with contact studies in Africa, which show that children 10–14 years have the highest frequency of contacts. Targeting older children in Africa for conjugate vaccination may be effective in reducing meningococcal transmission.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere228
Number of pages9
JournalEpidemiology and Infection
Volume147
Early online date27 Jun 2019
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 27 Jun 2019

Research Groups and Themes

  • Bristol Population Health Science Institute

Keywords

  • Infectious disease epidemiology
  • meningitis-bacterial
  • meningococcal disease
  • meta-analysis
  • pharyngeal carriage

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