This article, published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, discusses a study in the United States that suggests that natural immunity to meningococcal disease is initiated, reinforced, and broadened by intermittent carriage of different strains of meningococci throughout life. In early childhood, when few children have antibodies to pathogenic meningococci, active immunization seems to occur as a result of carriage of atypical, nonpathogenic strains. Immunity to systemic meningococcal infection among infants in the neonatal period is associated with the passive transfer of IgG antibodies from mother to fetus.

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