Meningococcal serogroup Y emergence in Europe: high importance in some European regions in 2012.

Neisseria meningitidis is differentiated into 12 distinct serogroups, of which A, B, C, W, X, and Y are medically most important and represent an important health problem in different parts of the world. The epidemiology of N. meningitidis is unpredictable over time and across geographic regions. Recent epidemiological surveillance has indicated an increase of serogroup Y invasive meningococcal disease in some parts of Europe as shown in the epidemiological data for 2010 and 2011 from various European countries previously published in this journal. (1)(,) (2) Here, data from 33 European countries is reported indicating that the emergence of serogroup Y continued in 2012 in various regions of Europe, especially in Scandinavia, while in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe the importance of serogroup Y remained low.