Neisseria meningitidis

Neisseria meningitidis, a major cause of meningitis, is highly contagious; the disease is easily spread through saliva.

99% of people who have this are healthy carriers- we develop natural immunity

Only 1% of individuals actually get the disease

Very serious disease, you can die within 2 hours, and even with treatment the mortality rate is 15%

Treatment
-Drug of Choice is Penicillin G given intravenously because it is systemic infection

Prevention
-Where there is an outbreak, everyone is given Ciprofloxacin to prevent it from spreading

-Vaccine given to target groups such as college students