A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2012 to assess the prevalence of meningococcal carriage among a representative sample of 1208 students 1119 years of age in Campinas, Brazil. Genotypic and phenotypic characterization of isolated carriage strains and the effect of potential risk factors for carriage were also analyzed.
The evidence gathered during this study provides estimates of carriage prevalence in Brazilian adolescents, showing an unusually high dominance of serogroup C. These results have important implications in futurestrategies to optimize the impact of the current meningococcal C vaccination program in Brazil