TY - JOUR AU - Wilder-Smith, Annelies AU - Barkham, Timothy M.S. AU - Ravindran, Sindhu AU - Earnest, Arul AU - Paton, Nicholas I. T1 - Persistence of W135 Neisseria meningitidis Carriage in Returning Hajj Pilgrims: Risk for Early and Late Transmission to Household Contacts T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2003 VL - 9 IS - 1 SP - 123 SN - 1080-6059 AB - After an outbreak of meningococcal disease caused by Neisseria meningitidis W135, associated with the Hajj pilgrimage in 2001, 15% of returning vaccinated pilgrims carried a single W135 clone, and 55% were still carriers 6 months later. Transmission to 8% of their unvaccinated household contacts occurred within a few weeks, but no late transmission took place. Public health interventions are needed to protect household contacts. KW - meningococcal disease KW - W135 N. meningitides KW - Hajj pilgrims KW - meningococcal carriage KW - transmission to household contacts KW - dispatch KW - Singapore KW - Saudi Arabia DO - 10.3201/eid0901.020131 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/9/1/02-0131_article ER - End of Reference