This article, published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, reviews an earlier study of the age-specific incidence of meningococcal meningitis in the United States that found that the proportion of individuals with serum bactericidal activity to meningococci of serogroups A, B, and C was reciprocally related to the incidence of disease. The implication of the study's findings is that susceptible persons are deficient in antimeningococcal antibodies because they have not received significant exposure to meningococcal antigens in the past.

Author(s): Goldschneider I, Gotschlich EC, Artenstein MS

Published: 1969

Resource types: Peer-reviewed journal

Diseases: Meningococcus

Topics: Disease burden and surveillance; Disease/vaccine specific information

Regions: North America and Europe