Laboratory investigation of suspected meningococcal disease

Laboratory investigation of suspected invasive meningococcal disease cases is important to inform the public health response. Confirmation of disease requires either

• isolation of the organism from a normally sterile body site (usually cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) or blood)

OR

• DNA detection by PCR assay (from CSF, serum, plasma, EDTA-coagulated whole blood, or joint fluids).

Laboratories that diagnose a case of meningococcal infection should refer all cases for further characterisation at the Meningococcal Reference Unit (MRU). Serogrouping is important to inform the subsequent management of case contacts, while strain differentiation and genotyping are useful for investigation of potentially linked cases and outbreaks.

See section 5 'Laboratory investigation of suspected cases' in the Guidelines for public health management of meningococcal disease in the UK (2011) (PDF, 2.6 MB) for more information.