Maternal vaginal colonisation with Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B and late onset neonatal invasive meningococcal disease

Authors

  • Nadiya Brell NSW Health Pathology, Microbiology, The Wollongong Hospital, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia; The Faculty of Medicine, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales Australia
  • Chloe Story NSW Health Pathology, Microbiology, The Wollongong Hospital, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
  • Sebastiaan J van Hal NSW Health Pathology, Microbiology, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; Central Clinical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  • Martin A. Weber The Faculty of Medicine, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales Australia; NSW Health Pathology, Anatomical Pathology, The Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  • Monica M Lahra The Faculty of Medicine, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales Australia; World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for STI and AMR, NSW Health Pathology, Microbiology. The Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33321/cdi.2026.50.017

Keywords:

Meningococcal colonisation, urogenital, neonatal, invasive meningococcal disease

Abstract

Here we report a case of late onset neonatal invasive meningococcal disease that was vertically transmitted, with maternal vaginal swab at the time of delivery and neonatal cerebrospinal fluid culture positive for Neisseria meningitidis. Whole genome sequencing of meningococcal isolates in the neonatal cerebrospinal fluid and maternal vaginal found both Men-B ST-2506 (clonal complex 32) and identical (1 SNP difference on split kmer analysis).

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References

Lahra MM, Latham NH, Templeton DJ, Read P, Carmody C, Ryder N et al. Investigation and response to an outbreak of Neisseria meningitidis serogroup Y ST-1466 urogenital infections, Australia. Commun Dis Intell (2018). 2024;48. doi: https://doi.org/10.33321/cdi.2024.48.20.

Chacon-Cruz E, Alvelais-Palacios JA, Rodriguez-Valencia JA, Lopatynsky-Reyes EZ, Volker-Soberanes ML, Rivas-Landeros RM. Meningococcal neonatal purulent conjunctivitis/sepsis and asymptomatic carriage of N. meningitidis in mother's vagina and both parents' nasopharynx. Case Rep Infect Dis. 2017;2017:6132857. doi: https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/6132857.

Hart J, Dowse GK, Porter M, Speers DJ, Keil AD, Bew JD et al. Obstetric and neonatal invasive meningococcal disease caused by Neisseria meningitidis serogroup W, Western Australia, Australia. Emerg Infect Dis. 2024;30(2):368–71. doi: https://doi.org/10.3201/eid3002.230639.

Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG). Maternal Group B Streptococcus in pregnancy: screening and management. Melbourne: RANZCOG; July 2019. Available from: https://ranzcog.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/Maternal-Group-B-Streptococcus-in-Pregnancy-Screening-Management.pdf.

Harris SR. SKA: split kmer analysis toolkit for bacterial genomic epidemiology. BioRxiv. 2018;453142. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/453142.

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Published

24/02/26

How to Cite

Brell, Nadiya, Chloe Story, Sebastiaan van Hal, Martin Weber, and Monica Lahra. 2026. “Maternal Vaginal Colonisation With Neisseria Meningitidis Serogroup B and Late Onset Neonatal Invasive Meningococcal Disease”. Communicable Diseases Intelligence 50 (February). https://doi.org/10.33321/cdi.2026.50.017.

Issue

Vol. 50 (2026)

Section

Letter to the Editor

Categories

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Communicable Diseases Intelligence

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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