Epidemiology of Nasopharyngeal Carriage of Neisseria meningitidis in Healthy Dutch Children

We investigated the prevalence and determinants of nasopharyngeal carriage of Neisseria meningitidis in 3200 healthy children aged 1–19 years. The incidence of meningococcal carriage was, on average, 1.5%. Peak incidences were seen at age 1 year and after age 15 years. The independent determinants of meningococcal carriage included age, regular visits to youth clubs (odds ratio [OR], 2.2) and discotheques (OR, 4.3), and pneumococcal carriage (OR, 4.1).