This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Recognition of Groups Y and W-135 as Frequent Pathogens

Edward I. Galaid, MPH; Charles E. Cherubin, MD, MPH; John S. Marr, MD, MPH; Sam Schaefler, PhD; Joseph Barone, MD; William Lee

JAMA. 1980;244(19):2167-2171.

Abstract
In the period 1973 through 1978, the New York City Department of Health serogrouped 648 isolates of Neisseria meningitidis and investigated 259 cases of meningococcal meningitis and meningococcemia. Although meningitis and septicemia were mainly due to groups B and C, groups Y and W-135 caused nearly one third of the cases. There was no difference in mortalities when disease caused by the classic groups A, B, and C was compared with disease caused by the new serogroups X, Y, Z, W-135, and Z'. Most isolates from the respiratory tract were from the new serogroups, especially Z and Z' (some from patients with pneumonia), as were most of those from the genitourinary tract, anal canal, and miscellaneous sites. Group X was infrequently seen. Although most of the isolations of these groups of N meningitidis are apparently from asymptomatic carriers, Y and W-135 do cause a substantial number of acute symptomatic infections, in particular, septicemia.

(JAMA 244:2167-2171, 1980)

Author Affiliations
From The Jewish Hospital and Medical Center of Brooklyn (NY) (Dr Cherubin), and the Bureau of Preventable Diseases (Drs Galaid, Marr, and Barone and Mr Lee), Bureau of Laboratories (Dr Schaefler), New York City Department of Health.

Footnotes
Reprint requests to The Jewish Hospital and Medical Center, 555 Prospect PI, Brooklyn, NY 11238 (Dr Cherubin).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Prospects for Vaccine Prevention of Meningococcal Infection
Harrison
Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 2006;19:142-164.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Meningococcal Disease
Rosenstein et al.
NEJM 2001;344:1378-1388.
FULL TEXT  

Serogroup Y Meningococcal Disease in Chicago, 1991-1997
Racoosin et al.
JAMA 1998;280:2094-2098.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Neisseria meningitidis Serogroup W135 Disease in Adults
Brandstetter et al.
JAMA 1981;246:2060-2061.
ABSTRACT