Prevalence of Nasal Carriage of Neisseria meningitidis among Umrah  Visitors and Pilgrims during Umrah and Hajj Season.

Samy S. Ashgar, Hamdy M. El-Said, Ayman Johargy, Aiman M. Momenah, Atif Asghar, Ashraf E. Sorour, Ameen Alherabi, Bassam H Mashat and Ahmad Aalam.

Department of Medical Microbiology - Faculty of Medicine and Center of Excellence for Hajj and Umrah Research - Umm Al-Qura University - Makkah

Corresponding Author’s Email: hamdimustafa1@gmail.com

Accepted 11 July, 2013

Abstract

A total of 3081 specimens collected from 2412 Umrah visitors and pilgrims to survey and surveillance Neisseria meningitidis. About 15 nationalities contributed in this study; the greatest number was from India (481) and the lowest one was from Jordan (1). Turkish and British recorded significant results (p= value 0.04 and 0.006, respectively) among Umrah visitors and Indian (p= value 0.0003) in pilgrims colonized by Neisseria meningitidis. Out of 232 Neisseria meningitidis isolated from Umrah visitors and pilgrims, 0 and 2 of serotype W135 were isolated before and, 2 and 5 were isolated after Umrah and Hajj respectively. Neisseria meningitides showed (8.3%) before Hajj and (10.3%) after Hajj resistant to Azithromycin antibiotic.

Keywords: Umrah, Hajj, Neisseria meningitidis, serogroup.