An outbreak of serogroup C (ST-11) meningococcal disease in Tijuana, Mexico

BackgroundInvasive meningococcal disease (IMD) has been reported to be endemic in children from Tijuana, Mexico and the risk of an outbreak was always a threat.ObjectivesTo describe all clinical, epidemiological and microbiological features of a meningococcal outbreak that occurred in Tijuana, Mexico.MethodsAll cases with IMD were admitted at different emergency departments within the city and diagnosed by culture and agglutination tests. Further restriction fragment length polymorphism pulse field gel electrophoresis (RFLP–PFGE) and multi locus sequence typing (MLST) were performed. All clinical and epidemiological characteristics and interventions were evaluated, as well as risk factors associated with mortality.ResultsFrom 30 January 2013 to 30 March 2013 there were 19 cases of IMD all caused by Neisseria meningitidis serogroup C. The median age was 16 years (2–47), with higher frequency among individuals at least 13 years old (73.7%). At admission, meningitis was the main clinical presentation (94.7%)...