Cluster of invasive Neisseria meningitidis infections on a cruise ship, Italy, October 2012

P Stefanelli; C Fazio; A Neri; P Isola; S Sani; P Marelli; C Martinelli; P Mastrantonio; M G Pompa

doi:10.2807/ese.17.50.20336-en

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Cluster of invasive Neisseria meningitidis infections on a cruise ship, Italy, October 2012
P Stefanelli¹ , C Fazio^1,2 , A Neri^1,2 , P Isola³ , S Sani⁴ , P Marelli³ , C Martinelli³ , P Mastrantonio¹ , M G Pompa⁵
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Affiliations: ¹ Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immune-mediated Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS), Rome, Italy ² These authors contributed equally to this work ³ Clinical Pathology Department, Azienda USL 6, Livorno, Italy ⁴ Infectious Diseases Unit, Azienda USL 6, Livorno, Italy ⁵ Communicable Disease and International Prophylaxis Unit, Directorate General of Prevention, Ministry of Health, Rome, Italy

Correspondence:
P Stefanelli
paola.stefanelli iss.it
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Citation style for this article: Stefanelli P, Fazio C, Neri A, Isola P, Sani S, Marelli P, Martinelli C, Mastrantonio P, Pompa M G. Cluster of invasive Neisseria meningitidis infections on a cruise ship, Italy, October 2012. Euro Surveill. 2012;17(50):pii=20336. https://doi.org/10.2807/ese.17.50.20336-en Received: 21 Nov 2012

Abstract

We describe a cluster of four cases of invasive meningococcal disease that occurred on a cruise ship sailing along the Italian coast in October 2012. All four cases were hospitalised with severe illness and one of them died. This report illustrates the importance of rapid implementation of emergency control measures such as administration of prophylaxis to all crew members and passengers to prevent the spread of the disease in such a close environment.