Upper respiratory tract infection, heterologous immunisation and meningococcal disease

To test the hypothesis that an episode of upper respiratory tract infection or heterologous immunisation is a predisposing factor for the occurrence o f meningococcal disease, data from 377 cases of meningococcal disease and t heir household contacts (n = 1124) were analysed by conditional logistic re gression analysis with stratification for household. The odds ratio for a r ecent upper respiratory tract infection for patients versus household conta cts, adjusted for age and the presence of an underlying predisposing diseas e, was 2.8 and that for recent heterologous immunisation 1.0. These results support previous observations regarding the association between a precedin g upper respiratory tract infection and the occurrence of meningococcal dis ease; however, no association was found between preceding heterologous immu nisation and meningococcal disease. Therefore, increased alertness after he terologous immunisation does not seem warranted.