Volume 17, Number 9—September 2011
Letter
Carriage of Meningococci by University Students, United Kingdom
Dlawer A.A. Ala’Aldeen, Neil J. Oldfield, Fadil A. Bidmos, Noha M. Abouseada, Nader W. Ahmed, David P.J. Turner, Keith R. Neal
, and Christopher D. Bayliss
, and Christopher D. Bayliss
Table
Characteristics of meningococci carriage, University of Nottingham students, United Kingdom, 2009–10*
| Collection date/year and group |
Carriage rate, no. (%) carriers |
Serogroup distribution |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B | Y | Others | |||||||
| No. isolates (% carried strains) |
% All participants (95% CI) |
No. isolates (% carried strains) |
% All participants (95% CI) |
No. isolates (% carried strains) |
% All participants (95% CI) |
||||
| September 2009 | |||||||||
| First, n = 823 | 191 (23.2)† | 58 (30.3) | 7.0 (5.3–8.8) | 24 (12.6) | 2.9 (1.8–4.1)‡ | 109 (57.1) | 13.2 (10.9–15.6) | ||
| Second, n = 441 | 151 (34.2)† | 34 (22.5) | 7.7 (5.2–10.2) | 46 (30.5) | 10.4 (7.6–13.3)§ | 71 (47.0) | 16.1 (12.7–19.5) | ||
| Third, n = 321 |
98 (30.5)† |
35 (35.7) |
10.9
( 7.5–14.3) |
20 (20.4) |
6.5
(3.6–8.9)¶ |
43 (43.9) |
13.4
(9.7–17.1) |
||
| December 2009 | |||||||||
| First, n = 557 | 310 (55.7)# | 53 (17.1) | 9.5 (7.1–12.0) | 142 (45.8) | 25.5 (21.9–29.1)‡ | 115 (37.1) | 20.6 (17.3–24.0) | ||
| Second, n = 312 | 123 (39.4)# | 33 (26.8) | 10.6 (7.2–14.0) | 32 (26.0) | 10.3 (6.9–13.6)§ | 58 (47.2) | 18.6 (14.3–22.9) | ||
| Third, n = 180 |
52 (28.9)# |
12 (23.1) |
6.7
(3.0–10.3) |
11 (21.2) |
6.1
(2.6–9.6)¶ |
29 (55.8) |
16.1
(10.7–21.5) |
||
| March 2010 | |||||||||
| First, n = 379 | 224 (59.1)# | 44 (19.6) | 11.6 (8.4–14.9) | 64 (28.6) | 16.9 (13.1–20.7)‡ | 116 (51.8) | 30.6 (26.0–35.2) | ||
| Second, n = 187 | 69 (36.9)# | 17 (24.6) | 9.1 (5.0–13.2) | 25 (36.2) | 13.4 (8.5–18.3)§ | 27 (39.1) | 14.4 (9.4–19.5) | ||
| Third, n = 112 | 37 (33.0)# | 13 (35.1) | 11.6 (5.7–17.5) | 5 (13.5) | 4.5 (0.6–8.3)¶ | 19 (51.4) | 17.0 (10.1–23.9) | ||
*CI, confidence interval.
†Carriage rate significantly lower for first-year students than for other year-group students, p <7 × 10–2.
‡First-year students, p<8 × 10–7.
§Second-year students, not significant.
¶Third-year students, not significant.
#Carriage rate significantly higher for first-year students than for other year-group students in December 2009 and March 2010, p<10–8.
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