[Meningococcal meningitis: preliminary epidemiological results on the introduction of a prophylactic vaccine].

Knowledge on the epidemiology of meningococcal meningitis in Italy is, at present mostly based on isolations of N. meningitidis from healthy carriers, seldom on seroepidemiological surveys, and only occasionally on isolations of the microorganism from cases. Such an incomplete and biased information could be of little help for an epidemiological evaluation of the impact of A and C polysaccharide vaccines, should they begin to be used in this Country, and calls for an urgent assessment of the baseline situation.