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Diseases A-Z
Meningococcal disease
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Meningococcal disease is serious and can be fatal, though 90%-95% of the people it infects recover with antibiotic therapy. Although Oregon's meningococcal disease rates remain above the national average, it is still uncommon here. Case rates have been declining ever since 1994, when 136 cases were reported statewide (see statistics below).
Meningococcal vaccine is effective against four serogroups (A, C, Y, and W-135) of Neisseria meningitidis, the bacterium that causes meningococcal disease. Unfortunately, most cases of meningococcal disease in Oregon are caused by serogroup B, a strain not covered by the vaccine. This means that the vaccine will not prevent most of our cases.
This is true for college students, too, among whom the disease is rare. A total of six cases occurred in Oregon college students between 1993 and 1999, or about 0.7 cases per 100,000 college students per year — less than the statewide average. Of these six cases, three were caused by serogroup B, and so were not vaccine-preventable. The risk of vaccine-preventable meningococcal disease, is, therefore, low among Oregon college students. The cost of the vaccine is high — about $70 per dose. College freshmen who want to reduce their already low risk can consider getting meningococcal vaccine if they think it is worth the cost.
Meningococcal disease is not highly contagious. Close contacts of cases (household members, day-care-center classroom contacts, close friends) are at elevated risk of disease; after a case occurs, these persons should take antibiotics to prevent the infection. School classmates, those living in other dormitory rooms, and health-care workers attending the case are generally not at elevated risk.
More info/links
Our meningococcal disease fact sheet answers some common questions about Meningococcal Disease, including disease prevention measures. Oregon disease surveillance data links appear below.
Disease reporting
Health care providers and clinical laboratories are required to report cases and suspect cases of Meningococcal Meningitis to local health departments within 24 hours of identification.
Disease reporting form for health-care practitioners (.pdf)
Go to our disease reporting page for information on how to report and for telephone numbers of local health departments.
For county health departments:
Investigative guidelines (8/06) (.pdf)
Case report form (8/06) (.pdf)
Model Standing Orders for Vaccine
Model Standing Orders for Prophylaxis of Contacts (8/06) (.pdf)
Statistics
Neisseria meningitidis Surveillance Report 2007 2006 2005 from the Active Bacterial Core surveillance (ABCs) project (.pdf)
Meningococcal disease statistics from the 2006 Oregon Communicable Disease Summary (.pdf)
Please Note: The ABCs project includes only culture-confirmed cases of N. meningitidis, while the case reporting definition, reflected in the Oregon Communicable Disease Summary, includes additional diagnostic results. Therefore, there may be slight differences between the two reports in the number of cases reported for a given year.
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