Characteristics of the course of the last epidemic of epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis (ECSM) in the city of Bucharest

: Active survey of the epidemiologic potential of cerebrospinal meningitis, in Bucharest, starting in 1967, made it possible to carry out a complex study of the last epidemic wave in 1968-1972. Details are given concerning the results of the complex epidemiologic, clinical and laboratory investigations, which revealed the particularities of this epidemic episode, including the frequency and gravity of the cases, territorial distribution, prevalent affection of certain age groups and children's communities, the prevalence of certain clinical forms, antigenic structure of the pathogenic agent and its sensitivity to antibiotics, comparative efficiency of the different methods of laboratory diagnosis, real and apparent contagiousness, etc. The authors discuss the efficiency of present methods applied in the prevention and control of meningococcal infections in general and of epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis in particular.