Meningococcal meningitis: the behavior, not the adolescent age favors porting

The behavioral changes observed in adolescence, more than age itself, cause an increase in meningococcal carriage pharyngeal Neisseria meningitidis, itself associated with invasive meningococcal disease, highlight the authors of a study English, calling for the development of health messages to young people.

Even short, pharyngeal carriage of Neisseria meningitidis is a prerequisite for invasive meningococcal disease. After infants, adolescents are the population with the age-specific prevalence is highest, say Jenny MacLennan and colleagues in the journal "Emerging Infectious Diseases".

They have sought to determine, in adolescents, the factors predisposing to meningococcal carriage in order to better identify targets for possible prevention campaigns.

After conducting a sampling pharyngeal samples in almost 14,000 British teenagers aged 15 to 19 years, they found that the frequency of the port, which averaged 16.7%, increased with age.

They also observed that some social and behavioral factors were strongly associated with meningococcal carriage, including active and passive smoking, kissing and made to go to bars and nightclubs. The simultaneous adoption of these three social attitudes quadrupled the risk of meningococcal carriage.

"The behavior, not age, is largely responsible for the increase in meningococcal carriage observed in adolescents," the researchers said.

With the size of the study, they were able to quantify the importance of each risk factor and highlight a link "dose-dependent" between risk and the fact of going to bars and nightclubs . Among the factors implicated, passive smoking faced by adolescents in these places, alcohol and music, very strong, forcing people to come together to talk, thereby increasing the risk of transmitting meningococcal consumption.

"The rise in adolescent meningococcal carriage is driven by changes in social behavior. Porting is a prerequisite for invasive disease, this elevation of porting probably explains the well-documented peak of meningococcal disease rates among adolescents, "the authors conclude.

The latter want to be explained to the public concerned the risks of smoking, the kisses and the presence in bars and nightclubs, especially in case of an epidemic. They also expect a decrease in the risk of meningococcal meningitis and septicemia following the ban on smoking in public places, which is able to enter into force in 2007 in the UK (except the Country of Wales) .