Photo Credit: Dr Microbe
The following is a summary of “Recent increase in atypical presentations of invasive meningococcal disease in France,” published in the June 2024 issue of Infectious Disease by Taha, et al.
Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) cases dropped during COVID-19 mitigation efforts (social distancing, masking) but rebounded in 2022 with genotypically distinct strains.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study exploring how the clinical presentations of IMD changed after the disease resurgence with new strains in 2022, following a decline during COVID-19 mitigation efforts.
They utilized the Database of the French National Reference Centre for Meningococci and Haemophilus Influenzae for IMD cases (2015 and 2022, retrospective descriptive study using the Database of the French National Reference Centre for Meningococci and Haemophilus Influenzae for IMD cases). Serogroups, sex, age groups, clinical presentations, and clonal complexes of the patients and isolates were scored.
The results showed a notable increase in non-meningeal forms of IMD following the relaxation of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPI), such as bacteremic meningococcal pneumonia (6% of all IMD forms) and bacteremic abdominal forms (8% of all IMD forms). In older adults, bacteremic pneumonia significantly linked to serogroups Y and W was observed, while young adults were affected with bacteremic abdominal presentations. Both forms were associated with higher early mortality rates and clonal complexes 23, 11, and 9316.
Investigators found that a rise in atypical IMD presentations likely increased disease burden due to delayed diagnosis and treatment. This suggests a need to update preventive strategies by adapting current vaccinations to changing strains.
Source: bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12879-024-09547-y
