Prevalence of carriers of Neisseria meningitidis among migrants: is migration changing the pattern of circulating meningococci?

To evaluate the prevalence of carriers of Neisseria meningitidis and circulating serogroups, 253 African refugee residents in the Asylum Seeker Center of Bari, Italy, were enrolled. Thirteen subjects (5.1%) were identified as carriers of meningococci. Six (46.1%) strains were autoagglutinable, four (30.8%) belonged to serogroup W135, and three (23.1%) to serogroup Y.