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Abstract

Background

Meningococcus () is the causative bacteria of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD), a major cause of meningitis and sepsis. In 2015–16, an outbreak caused by serogroup C meningococci (MenC), belonging to the hyperinvasive strain ST-11(cc-11), resulted in 62 IMD cases in the region of Tuscany, Italy.

Aim

We aimed to estimate the key outbreak parameters and assess the impact of interventions used in the outbreak response.

Methods

We developed a susceptible-carrier-susceptible individual-based model of MenC transmission, accounting for transmission in households, schools, discos/clubs and the general community, which was informed by detailed data on the 2015–16 outbreak (derived from epidemiological investigations) and on the implemented control measures.

Results

The outbreak reproduction number (R) was 1.35 (95% prediction interval: 1.13–1.47) and the IMD probability was 4.6 for every 1,000 new MenC carriage episodes (95% confidence interval: 1.8–12.2). The interventions, i.e. chemoprophylaxis and vaccination of close contacts of IMD cases as well as age-targeted vaccination, were effective in reducing R and ending the outbreak. Case-based interventions (including ring vaccination) alone would have been insufficient to achieve outbreak control. The definition of age groups to prioritise vaccination had a critical impact on the effectiveness and efficiency of control measures.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that there are no effective alternatives to widespread reactive vaccination during outbreaks of highly transmissible MenC strains. Age-targeted campaigns can increase the effectiveness of vaccination campaigns. These results can be instrumental to define effective guidelines for the control of future meningococcal outbreaks caused by hypervirulent strains.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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2023-05-11
2024-12-21
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Evaluating the effect of targeted strategies as control tools for hypervirulent meningococcal C outbreaks: a case study from Tuscany, Italy, 2015 to 2016
<p class="citation"> <span>Citation style for this article:</span> <span class="meta-value authors"> <a href="/search?value1=Giorgio+Guzzetta&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Guzzetta Giorgio</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Marco+Ajelli&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Ajelli Marco</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Alessandro+Miglietta&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Miglietta Alessandro</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Cecilia+Fazio&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Fazio Cecilia</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Arianna+Neri&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Neri Arianna</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Stefano+Merler&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Merler Stefano</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Giovanni+Rezza&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Rezza Giovanni</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Paola+Stefanelli&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Stefanelli Paola</a></span>. Evaluating the effect of targeted strategies as control tools for hypervirulent meningococcal C outbreaks: a case study from Tuscany, Italy, 2015 to 2016. <a href="/content/ecdc">Euro Surveill.</a> 2023;28(19):pii=2200650. <a href="https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.19.2200650" title="doi link" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.19.2200650</a> <span class="ES_Article_citation"> <span class="generated">Received</span>: 12 Aug 2022;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="generated">Accepted</span>: 13 Dec 2022 </span> </p>
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