Referenced in: none

Automatically associated channels: Kir2.3

Title: Four-month outbreak of invasive meningococcal disease caused by a rare serogroup B strain, identified through the use of molecular PorA subtyping, England, 2013.

Authors: C Chatt, R Gajraj, J Hawker, K Neal, M Tahir, M Lawrence, S J Gray, J Lucidarme, A D Carr, S A Clark, T Fowler

Journal, date & volume: Euro Surveill., 2014 , 19,

PubMed link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25394258

Abstract
Molecular PorA subtyping provides information that increasingly requires the adaptation of standard public health approaches to outbreak management. We report an outbreak of a rare subtype of meningococcal infection not previously identified in the United Kingdom (UK). The outbreak occurred in the Warwickshire area in England between February and June 2013. Molecular subtyping allowed the identification of additional cases, prompting an enhanced public health response that included efforts to identify potential social networks that might benefit from chemoprophylaxis. It also prompted swabbing to define nasopharyngeal carriage in the focal nursery and helped explain the unusual epidemiological pattern. Without subtyping to identify a link, the additional cases would have been managed as sporadic cases in accordance with current UK guidance.