A cluster of meningococcal disease on a school bus following epidemic influenza

Arch Intern Med. 1991 May;151(5):1005-9.

Abstract

An outbreak of meningococcal disease among children on a school bus offered the opportunity to study a proposed association between this infection and preceding influenza infection. Five students who rode the bus became ill with invasive group C meningococcus. Transmission was limited to the bus; there was no evidence for school transmission. All five students reported influenza-like symptoms within several weeks before the development of meningococcal disease. School absenteeism, principally due to upper respiratory tract illness, was higher during the 3 weeks before the outbreak of meningococcal disease than during any period in the preceding 3 1/2 years, suggesting an unusually severe outbreak of respiratory illness. A case-control study comparing students with and without influenza symptoms revealed that the outbreak of respiratory disease was due to B/Ann Arbor/1/86 influenza (geometric mean titers, 86 for 80 patients and 33 for 47 controls [P = .0007]). These data add to the evidence suggesting that influenza respiratory infection predisposes to meningococcal disease.

MeSH terms

  • Absenteeism
  • Adolescent
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Child
  • Disease Outbreaks*
  • Humans
  • Incidence
  • Influenza, Human / epidemiology*
  • Meningococcal Infections / epidemiology*
  • Meningococcal Infections / etiology
  • Meningococcal Infections / transmission
  • Risk Factors
  • Transportation*
  • Virginia / epidemiology