Handbook of Meningococcal Disease Management

1. Introduction and epidemiology of meningococcal diseaseNeisseria meningitidis Disease surveillance Case fatality and sequelae Epidemiology of meningococcal disease Capsular groups causing disease Current issues Summary points References 
2. Carriage and transmission of Neisseria meningitidisIntroduction Detecting the carrier stateThe natural history of meningococcal carriageEpidemiology of carriageOther Neisseria speciesEffect of vaccination on carriageSummary pointsReferences 
3. Pathogenesis of invasive diseaseIntroductionTransmission, adaptation, and penetration to the circulationNeisseria meningitidis and intravascular survivalMeningococcemia: a disease of the endothelial cellsPathophysiological characteristics of clinical presentations of meningococcal diseaseThe immune responseSummary pointsReferences
4. Diagnosis of meningococcal diseaseIntroductionConventional diagnosisMolecular diagnosis Typing of Neisseria meningitidisSummary and future outlookReferences
5. Clinical aspects of meningococcal diseaseIntroduction Clinical spectrum of diseaseSymptoms of diseaseDisease outcomes and prognosis Raising awareness of disease Genetic factors Summary points References
6. Treatment of meningococcal diseaseIntroductionShockRaised intracranial pressureAntibiotic therapyAdjunctive therapies Where to manage children with meningococcal disease? Summary points References
7. Prevention of meningococcal disease through vaccinationIntroduction Polysaccharide vaccines Protein-polysaccharide conjugate vaccines Production and quality control of polysaccharide and conjugate vaccinesImmunological correlates of protection Capsular group B vaccines Summary points References
Appendix Management of bacterial meningitis in children and young people 
Management of

Ian Feavers, PhD, is Head of Bacteriology at the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC), UK. He received his PhD from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. After graduating he undertook postdoctoral research in molecular genetics at the University of Sheffield and the Friedrich Miescher Institut in Basel. During the late 1990s, when new conjugate vaccines were being introduced, he headed the laboratory responsible for the control and standardization of meningococcal and pneumococcal vaccines. He continues to oversee an active research program on the molecular genetics and immunology of meningococcal antigens. Because of his broad experience of bacterial vaccines and molecular biology, he has been closely involved with a number of meningococcal vaccine developments. He regularly contributes to WHO and EU guidelines, has been an advisor to the International Vaccine Institute's typhoid conjugate vaccine initiative, and serves on the Public Health England invasive bacterial diseases forum. He is one of NIBSC's observers on Joint Vaccination and Immunisation Committee (JCVI) and a member of the JCVI subgroups on meningococcal and pneumococcal vaccines. He is a former editor of the Journal of Applied Microbiology and is currently an associate editor of Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics. He has over 100 publications, including peer reviewed research papers. He teaches on vaccine related courses at the University of London, University of Surrey, and is a Visiting Professor at Imperial College.

Andrew J Pollard, FRCPCH PhD, is Professor of Paediatric Infection and Immunity at the University of Oxford, Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, Fellow of St Cross College, and Honorary Consultant Paediatrician at the Children's Hospital, Oxford, UK. He obtained his medical degree at St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical School, University of London in 1989 and trained in Paediatrics at Birmingham Children's Hospital, UK,

"This is an amazingly comprehensive 111-page review of a worldwide problem, meningococcal disease, which in some cases can be fatal. It covers all aspects of the disease from epidemiology and clinical presentation through prevention. ... The book targets a broad audience, ranging from medical and public health students to clinicians and research scientists. ... This is a small, high-quality book about a big problem. There is just enough science about meningococcal disease for clinicians ... ." (Rudolf Jan Kotula, Doody's Book Reviews, July, 2016)