ArticleBMC infectious diseases2023
Trends in Neisseria meningitidis serogroups amongst patients with suspected cerebrospinal meningitis in the meningitis belt of Ghana: a 5-year retrospective study.
Article in BMC infectious diseases, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 6 citations in OpenAlex.
- Epidemiological distribution of bacterial meningitis infections in South Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Pooled it
- The epidemiology of infectious meningitis in Ghana: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Epidemiology and public health response to a meningitis outbreak in Ghana's Upper West Region, 2025: a descriptive cross-sectional study.The Pan African medical journal · 2026Article
- Development of MenFive®, an affordable pentavalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine (ACYWX) for Africa and beyond.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2025Review
- Risk factors associated with meningitis outbreak in the Upper West Region of Ghana: A matched case-control study.PloS one · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSerogroup A Neisseria meningitidis was the major cause of meningococcal meningitis epidemics in the African meningitis belt before 2010 when the monovalent meningococcal A conjugate vaccine (MenAfriVac) was introduced in the region. Therefore, this study aimed to establish the trends in N. meningitidis serogroups from 2016 to 2020 in Ghana's meningitis belt.
methodsPolymerase chain reaction (PCR) confirmed laboratory results of suspected cases of cerebrospinal meningitis from January, 2016 to March, 2020 were obtained from the Tamale Public Health Laboratory. The data were subjected to trend analysis using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 25. Differences between discrete variables were analyzed using the Cochran-Armitage trend test.
resultsOf the 2,426 suspected cases, 395 (16.3%) were confirmed positive for N. meningitidis using PCR. Serogroup X showed a significant upward trend (P < 0.01), and serogroup W showed a downward trend (P < 0.01). However, no significant trend was observed for any other serogroup.
conclusionThis study showed the emergence of serogroup X, a non-vaccine type, as the predominant N. meningitidis serogroup in the wake of a declining serogroup W in Ghana's meningitis belt.
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