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PMID: 6805630 Published · ppublish English Journal Article

Meningococcal disease in Scandinavia.

British medical journal (Clinical research ed.) ·Vol. 284 ·No. 6329 ·1982-05-29 ·Pages 1618-21

Peltola H, Jónsdóttir K, Lystad A, Sievers CJ, Kallings I

Abstract

Scandinavia (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden) comprises with mutual borders and 22.3 million inhabitants an area where the socioeconomic and cultural conditions are similar. Epidemic diseases, such as meningococcal infection, might therefore be expected to be uniformly distributed. An epidemiological study in the 10-year period 1970-9 shows, however, remarkable differences in the incidence, age, and serogroup and type distribution, as well as in the general dynamics of the disease. Three epidemics, two caused by different serotypes of group B (Norway and Iceland) and one by group A (Finland) occurred within the observation period. The annual overall incidence was generally around 3/100 000 but increased from fivefold (Finland) to eightfold (northern Norway) during epidemics. The epidemic strains caused infection in over 3000 patients and the loss of at least 250 lives. The overall case fatality rate was 8.6% (range 4.1-13.7%). Men were more susceptible and had a worse prognosis than women of the same age group. The group A epidemic in Finland was influenced by a large vaccination campaign, but this possibility was not feasible in the two other epidemics.

MeSH Terms
Adolescent Adult Child, Preschool Denmark Disease Outbreaks/epidemiology Drug Resistance, Microbial Female Finland Humans Iceland Male Meningococcal Infections/epidemiology,mortality Neisseria meningitidis/drug effects Norway Serotyping Sulfonamides/pharmacology Sweden
Chemicals
Sulfonamides
Authors & Affiliations
5 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Peltola H
Jónsdóttir K
Lystad A
Sievers C J
Kallings I
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33 references, click to expand
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Article Info
Journal
British medical journal (Clinical research ed.)
Abbr.
Br Med J (Clin Res Ed)
ISSN
0267-0623
DOI
10.1136/bmj.284.6329.1618
Published
1982-05-29
Pages
1618-21
Language
English
Region
England
NLM ID
8302911
PMCID
PMC1498539
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1136/bmj.284.6329.1618 PMC Full Text
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