Meningococcal Disease in a Large Urban Population (Barcelona, 1987-1992)

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
MENINGOCOCCAL disease has been known clinically since Vieusseux1 reported the epidemic outbreak in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1805. In its 2-century history, the discovery of the etiologic agent, ie, Neisseria meningitidis, by Weichselbaum2 in 1887, the introduction of sulfonamides3 and penicillin4 in its treatment, in 1937 and 1944, respectively, and finally the development of meningococcal vaccines5-8 greatly improved the ominous prognosis of meningococcal disease and contributed to the control of epidemics. However, meningococcal disease still represents a major public health problem in many areas of the world.9 Issues that remain unresolved are the still high case-fatality rate (CFR) of fulminant meningococcemia, the temporal changes in serogroup and/or serotype predominance, the increasing emergence of resistance to penicillin, and the lack of an effective vaccine against serogroup B.