Mechanisms of pathogenesis and prevention of meningococcal disease

Neisseria meningitidis is a bacterium with a dynamic genome and is usually commensal with the upper respiratory tract of approximately 10% of the population. On rare occasions, the bacterium can traverse epithelia, invade the bloodstream and cause a deadly disease against which modern medicine is harmless. The only effective means of prevention is vaccination. A quantum leap in the understanding of mechanisms of pathogenesis and vaccine development has been achieved by studying the bacterial genome.

Section editors:William Bishai and Eric Nuermberger – Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA