Nasopharyngeal, vaginal and anal carriage of Neisseria meningitidis in Nigeria.

The incidence of carriers of Neisseria meningitidis was investigated in Borno State, an epidemic area for cerebrospinal meningitis and in Anambra State a non-epidemic area for this disease in Nigeria. The nasopharyngeal carriage rate in Maiduguri in Borno State was 18 per cent as compared with 11.8 per cent and 9.6 per cent in Nsukka and Enugu respectively in Anambra State. N. meningitidis was also isolated from anus and vagina in one and three females respectively. Majority of the isolates (71.9 per cent) belonged to serogroup B. The rare group x was recorded on two occasions. Majority of the isolates were sensitive to tetracycline, streptomycin and chloramphenicol; a few multiple drug resistant strains were also encountered.