Judith E Mueller

..To evaluate risk factors for meningococcal carriage and carriage acquisition in the African meningitis belt, comparing epidemic serogroup A (NmA) to non-epidemic serogroups...

..meningitidis serogroup W-135 and serogroup A disease are hyperendemic and most of the population received polysaccharide A/C vaccine during 2002...

..Epidemic waves occur if new meningococcal strains which escape pre-existing immunity, enter the population. Future research should include the impact of viral co-infection on bacterial colonization and invasion...

..This review summarizes the existing data on N. meningitidis W135 epidemiology, immunology and vaccines as they relate to meningitis in sub-Saharan Africa...

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..These findings show the need for large samples and a longitudinal design for N. meningitidis serogroup A carriage studies...

..To better understand localized meningococcal meningitis epidemics, we evaluated a serogroup A (NmA) epidemic in Burkina Faso by surveillance, carriage, and seroprevalence studies...

..The development of optimal vaccination strategies for pneumococcal conjugate vaccines requires serotype-specific data on disease incidence and carriage prevalence. This information is lacking for the African meningitis belt...

..Although limited to a few districts, we have documented NmX meningitis epidemics occurring with a seasonal incidence previously only reported in the meningitis belt for NmW135 and NmA, which argues for development of an NmX vaccine...

..Molecular diagnostics will facilitate surveillance in remote areas, but the available techniques should be evaluated for diagnostic performance in the field and long-term sustainability...

..Pneumococcal meningitis was highly seasonal regardless of serotype. Data from this study emphasize the potential usefulness of PCVs among older children and adults...

..In regional meningitis surveillance, CSF-based PCR increased the serotype information yield from 40% of cases (isolate testing) to 90%...

..Although the former is the current standard for bacterial meningitis surveillance in the meningitis belt, nested PCR performed in a certified laboratory should be used as an absolute reference when evaluating new diagnostic tests...

..We aimed to collect all available population based data on pneumococcal meningitis throughout life in the African meningitis belt and then to model overall meningitis risk to help inform vaccine policy...

..To facilitate research and surveillance, we aimed to develop a definition for localised epidemics to be used in real-time surveillance based on weekly case reports at the health centre level...

..NmW135 meningitis showed pronounced temporal and geographic clustering and occurred almost exclusively among those younger than 15 years old. By the 2004-2005 epidemic season, NmW135 had largely disappeared from Togo for unknown reasons...

..During the period 2001-2002, Burkina Faso reported its first meningitis epidemic due to Neisseria meningitidis (Nm) serogroup W135, prompting concerns that this serogroup would persist as a cause of epidemic disease...

..The presence of cnl meningococci that can escape serum killing and cause invasive disease is of concern for future vaccination strategies and should promote rigorous surveillance of cnl meningococcal disease...

..A vaccine that is effective against W135 will be beneficial for sub-Saharan Africa...

..The most urgent future need is for a sustainable routine infant immunization program, including a less expensive vaccine that preferably is delivered in a multivalent form...

..To describe trends in prevalence and determinants of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in German women...

..In an African setting with few resources and in which few confirmed Hib meningitis cases were identified, Hib vaccine impact nevertheless could be demonstrated against the outcome of purulent meningitis and was found to be high...

..Changes in biochemical markers of bone formation and resorption were followed over the course of 1 year in premenopausal, perimenopausal and early postmenopausal women...