Pharyngeal carriage is the reservoir for Neisseria meningitidis in the population and the first step in disease transmission. Especially in young infants and adolescents, N. meningitidis can cause serious invasive infection with high fatality rates and high rates of long-term sequelae among survivors. The aim of this study was to determine N. meningitidis colonization rates in asymptomatic health care professionals at a tertiary university pediatric hospital and to identify risk factors for carriage. This cross-sectional meningococcal carriage survey was conducted between April and October 2018 at the Medical University of Vienna. Individuals working as nurses, pediatricians, or medical students were enrolled. Oropharyngeal swabs were directly plated onto selective agar plates and conventional culture was used for bacterial identification. Meningococcal isolates were further characterized using whole-genome sequencing. A total of 437 oropharyngeal specimens were collected. Overall, meningococcal carriage prevalence was 1.14% (5/437), with 0.7% (3/437) for capsular genotype B, and 0.5% (2/437) for capsular genotype W. Mean age of carriers was significantly lower than of non-carriers (24.2 vs. 35.8; p = 0.004). The highest carriage rate of 4.4% (4/91) was found in the age group 18-25. Carriage was negatively associated with age and timespan working in pediatrics. This is the first study evaluating the prevalence of Neisseria meningitidis carriage in health care professionals working in Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. Carriage was in general lower than expected for all age groups, implicating a low risk of meningococcal transmission via this population.

中文翻译：

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三级大学儿科医院医护人员中脑膜炎奈瑟氏菌的咽运送率。

咽部运输是脑膜炎奈瑟菌在人群中的储存库，也是疾病传播的第一步。尤其是在婴幼儿中，脑膜炎奈瑟氏球菌会导致严重的侵袭性感染，致死率高，幸存者中长期后遗症的发生率也高。这项研究的目的是确定三级大学儿科医院无症状医护人员中脑膜炎奈瑟菌的定植率，并确定携带危险因素。这项脑膜炎球菌横断面调查于2018年4月至10月在维也纳医科大学进行。招募了从事护士，儿科医生或医学专业学生的个人。将口咽拭子直接铺在选择性琼脂平板上，并使用常规培养物进行细菌鉴定。脑膜炎球菌分离株使用全基因组测序进一步表征。总共收集了437个口咽标本。总体而言，脑膜炎球菌携带率是1.14％（5/437），其中荚膜基因型B占0.7％（3/437），而荚膜基因型W占0.5％（2/437）。携带者的平均年龄显着低于非携带者的年龄。 -载体（24.2 vs.35.8; p = 0.004）。18-25岁年龄组的最高运载率为4.4％（4/91）。马车与儿科患者的年龄和工作时间负相关。这是第一项评估脑膜炎奈瑟氏球菌运输在儿科和青少年医学工作的医疗保健专业人员中的患病率的研究。一般而言，所有年龄段的人均运输需求均低于预期，这意味着通过该人群进行脑膜炎球菌传播的风险较低。