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Pediatria pre prax 2/2025
Increase in invasive meningococcal diseases in Slovakia in 2024
Active surveillance of invasive meningococcal diseases (IMD) and nasopharyngeal carriers is carried out at the National Reference Center for Meningococci (NRC) in cooperation with the Department of Epidemiology under the roof of the Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic. As part of the surveillance program, 54 IMOs were reported in Slovakia in 2024, which is 41% more compared to 2023 and the most cases in 15 years in Slovakia. In the NRC for meningococci, we have confirmed 51 of them in the laboratory. Morbidity was highest in children aged 0 years. In meningococcal diseases, serogroup B was prevalent in 80%. The highest incidence of diseases was recorded in the Prešov region (3.94/100,000), predominantly in the Sabinov district (11.37/100,000). Morbidity was higher in the female sex (W 63% > M 37%) by 26%. Clinically, 52% of the diseases were meningitis, in the remaining cases sepsis, meningitis with sepsis or Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome. 3 diseases ended fatally in Prešov region. Clonal analysis of Slovak isolates of N. meningitidis using whole-genome sequencing (WGS) over a 16-year period, we found that all diseases were caused by hypervirulent clonal complexes (CC) and in some CCs a link with serogroups was proven (e.g. 41/44, 32, 60, 18, 213, 35, 162 with serogroup B, CC 11 with serogroup C or CC23 with serogroup Y). In strains of N. meningitidis isolated throughout the territory of the Slovak Republic, significant resistance to penicillin preparations has been proven for a long time. In 2024, it reached 21%.
Keywords: N. meningitidis, invasive meningococcal disease, meningitis, sepsis, surveillance, vaccination, epidemiology
