N. meningitidis is recognized as the cause of Infection Meningococcal Disease (IMD) generally develops rapidly 20% of survivors suffer from neurological and disabling sequelae in spite of prompt antibiotic therapy. The disease is a major concern in public heath worldwide and can occur as sporadic cases, outbreaks, and large epidemics. Although in Mexico the invasive meningococcal disease is notifiable, reports about meningococcal diseases are scarce with no data available related to the presence of genotypes or "hyper invasive lineages".
To review the epidemiological characteristics of Neisseria meningitidis isolates from patients with IMD.
Biological samples were obtained from patients with a diagnosis of IMD in nine different hospitals in Metropolitan Area of the Valley of Mexico (MAVM) between 2010 and 2011. Susceptibility test to penicillin, cefotaxime and ciprofloxacin were determined and the genetic diversity of the isolates was analyzed.
Thirty-eight samples were analyzed, which were identified as N. meningitidis; ten by bacteriological culture and 14 with polymerase chain reaction (PCR), of the total of the 24 positive, 20 were serogroup C, two serogroup W and there was one of serogroups B and Y. Eight of 10 culture positive samples were identified as penicillin resistant serogroup C and epidemiological and molecular links were also found between these isolates with multilocus sequence typing grouped as Clonal Complex 11.
A low recovery rate of positive cultures was evident, we have shown that the diagnostic support of PCR in patients in who's clinical and epidemiological data were conclusive for a definitive diagnosis. The 80% of the isolated analyzed (8/10) were resistance to penicillin. Epidemiological and molecular links were found among isolates of serogroup C.