Epidemiology of bacterial meningitis in the North American Arctic, 2000-2010.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the incidence of meningitis caused by Haemophilus influenzae, Neisseria meningitidis, and Streptococcus pneumoniae in the North American Arctic during 2000-2010.

METHODS: Surveillance data were obtained from the International Circumpolar Surveillance network. We defined a case of bacterial meningitis caused by H. influenzae, N. meningitidis, or S. pneumoniae as a culture-positive isolate obtained from a normally sterile site in a resident with a meningitis diagnosis.

RESULTS: The annual incidence/100,000 persons for meningitis caused by H. influenzae, N. meningitidis, and S. pneumoniae among all North American Arctic residents was: 0.6, 0.5, and 1.5, respectively; the meningitis incidence among indigenous persons in Alaska and Canada (indigenous status not recorded in Greenland) for those three bacteria was: 2.1, 0.8, and 2.4, respectively. The percentage of pneumococcal isolates belonging to a 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine serotype declined from 2000-2004 to 2005-2010 (31%-2%, p-value <0.01). During 2005-2010, serotype a caused 55% of H. influenzae meningitis and serogroup B caused 86% of meningococcal meningitis.

CONCLUSIONS: Compared with all North American Arctic residents, indigenous people suffer disproportionately from bacterial meningitis. Arctic residents could benefit from the development of an H. influenzae serotype a vaccine and implementation of a meningococcal serogroup B vaccine.