Immunisation against meningococcal meningitis for haj and Umrah

This year’s recommendations by the Department of Health (DH) for England for immunisation against meningococcal meningitis for pilgrims planning to travel to Mecca on haj or Umrah were reported in last week’s Communicable Disease Report (1). An outbreak of meningococcal serogroup A infection occurred among pilgrims on the haj pilgrimage of 1987, resulting in outbreaks in other countries including the United Kingdom (UK).