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Historically, the most common source of meningococcal infection in adults has been exposure to an asymptomatic person with nasopharyngeal carriage of the organism. Now, researchers at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) and the CDC report 18 cases of invasive serogroup C Neisseria meningitidis disease (SCMD) diagnosed between August 2010 and December 2012 in men who have sex with men (MSM). For 2012, the incidence of invasive meningococcal disease per 100,000 adults aged 18 to 64 was estimated at 12.6 in MSM, compared with 0.16 in non-MSM males.
All 18 patients were hospitalized, and 5 died. Median age was 32 (range, 21–59), and 10 of the men had HIV infection. Strains from 11 of the 12 cases reported in 2012 we…