B Part of It study: a longitudinal study to assess carriage of <i>Neisseria meningitidis</i> in first year university students in South Australia

Abstract

Attending bars and engaging in intimate kissing is associated with oropharyngeal carriage in South Australian university students. Adolescent meningococcal vaccine programs should be implemented at school, prior to increased attendance at bars, intimate contact, and carriage acquisition. Delaying freezing of oropharyngeal specimens longer than 16 hours reduces yield of N. meningitidis by culture but not PCR detection.