Goldacre M J
Int J Epidemiol. 1977 Jun;6(2):101-5. doi: 10.1093/ije/6.2.101.
Significant space-time clustering was found for cases of meningococcal disease. This result was entirely accounted for by the occurrence of a small number of sibling pairs, and clustering was no longer found when these were omitted from the analysis. Meningococcal disease should still be regarded as potentially communicable between siblings. However, in this region of England the current level of infectivity of the disease outside the family is low. Space-time clustering was not convincingly demonstrated for haemophilus meningitis. This emphasizes that, even with diseases of known microbial aetiology, evidence for such clustering may be difficult to obtain. Only a small number of cases of haemophilus meningitis occurred in single-child families. Cases of single-child families tended to occur in older children than the remainder. Although children under three years of age are most susceptible to haemophilus meningitis, it is likely that the organism is usually introduced into the family by an older sibling.
发现脑膜炎球菌病病例存在显著的时空聚集性。这一结果完全是由少数同胞对的出现所导致的，当在分析中剔除这些同胞对后，聚集性就不再存在了。脑膜炎球菌病仍应被视为在兄弟姐妹之间可能具有传染性。然而，在英格兰的这个地区，该疾病在家庭外的当前感染水平较低。未令人信服地证明流感嗜血杆菌性脑膜炎存在时空聚集性。这强调了，即使对于已知微生物病因的疾病，获得这种聚集性的证据可能也很困难。只有少数流感嗜血杆菌性脑膜炎病例发生在独生子女家庭。独生子女家庭的病例往往比其他病例发生在年龄较大的儿童中。虽然三岁以下儿童最易感染流感嗜血杆菌性脑膜炎，但该病原体通常可能是由年龄较大的兄弟姐妹引入家庭的。
