B Part of It study: a longitudinal study to assess carriage of Neisseria meningitidis in first year university students in South Australia

Figures & data

Table 1. Characteristics of students at visit 1.

Participant characteristics
Age (years): mean (sd)	18.5 (1.4)
Gender: n (%)
Male	183 (43.6%)
Female	237 (56.4%)
Previous verified Men B vaccination: n (%)	6 (1.4%)
Current cold or sore throat: n (%)	54 (12.8%)
Antibiotics: n (%)
Not taken in the past month	382 (90.7%)
Stopped in the last week	8 (1.9%)
Stopped in the last month	15 (3.6%)
YES, currently taking	16 (3.8%)
Current smoker: n (%)	8 (1.9%)
E-cigarette use in the last week: n (%)	1 (0.2%)
Water pipe use in the last month: n (%)	14 (3.3%)
Smoker in residence: n (%)
Yes outside	56 (13.7%)
Yes inside	4 (1.0%)
Nights out in a pub/club in the last week: n (%)
0	207 (50.5%)
1	118 (28.9%)
>2	85 (20.7%)
Number of people kissed in the last week: n (%)
0	272 (66.8%)
1	126 (31.0%)
>2	9 (2.2%)
Current partner: n (%)	115 (28.2%)
Partner smokes: n (%)	5 (4.5%)
Household size: n (%)
<5 people	289 (70.7%)
5 to <10 people	104 (25.4%)
≥10 people	16 (3.9%)
Ethnicity: n (%)
Aboriginal	4 (1.0%)
Caucasian	269 (65.1%)
Asian	111 (26.9%)
Middle East	6 (1.5%)
African	1 (0.2%)
Pacific Islander	1 (0.2%)
Other	21 (5.1%)

Figure 1. Flow-chart of inclusion and follow-up.

Table 2. Proportion of Neisseria meningitidis pharyngeal carriage from oropharyngeal swab, at visit 1 (participants who were lost to follow up), visit 1 (returned for follow up swab), and combined total.

	Visit 1 swab in those lost to follow up (n = 162)		Visit 1 swab in those who returned for visit 2 (n = 259)		Visit 1 swab in all participants (n = 421)
Serogroup	N (%)	95% CI	N (%)	95% CI	N (%)	95% CI
Group B	4 (2.5%)	0.9% to 6.5%	3 (1.2%)	0.4% to 3.6%	7 (1.7%)	0.8% to 3.5%
Group W	2 (1.2%)	0.3 to 4.9%	1 (0.4%)	0.05% to 2.7%	3 (0.7%)	0.2% to 2.2%
Group Y	6 (3.7%)	1.7% to 8.1%	6 (2.3%)	1.0% to 5.1%	12 (2.9%)	1.6% to 5.0%
Non-groupable	5 (3.1%)	1.3% to 7.3%	1 (0.4%)	0.05% to 2.7%	6 (1.4%)	0.6% to 3.1%
Total Por A + ve	16* (9.9%)	6.1% to 15.6%	10* (3.9%)	2.1% to 7.1%	26*(6.2%)	4.2% to 8.9%

* Less than the individual serogroup total because more than one isolate has been detected in two participants (B, Y and W, Y)

Table 3. Proportion of Neisseria meningitidis carriage at visit 2, in oropharyngeal swab, and saliva sample.

	Visit 2 swab (n = 259)		Visit 2 saliva sample (n = 239)
Genogroup	N (%)	95% CI	N (%)	95% CI
Group B	3 (1.2%)	0.4% to 3.6%	3 (1.3%)	0.4% to 3.8%
Group W	1 (0.4%)	0.1% to 2.7%	0 (0%)
Group Y	7 (2.7%)	1.3% to 5.6%	4 (1.7%)	0.6% to 4.4%
Non-groupable	5 (1.9%)	0.8% to 4.6%	6 (2.5%)	1.1% to 5.5%
Total Por A + ve	16 (6.2%)	3.8% to 9.9%	13 (5.4%)	3.2% to 9.2%

Table 4. Univariable logistic regression of PCR positive adolescents at visit 1, with participant characteristics.

Effect		Detected N (%)	Odds Ratio (95% CI)	P‐value
Age	Reference: 17 year olds	5/66 (7.6%)
	18 years	11/223 (4.9%)	0.63 (0.21 to 1.89)	0.41
	19 years	7/67 (10.5%)	1.42 (0.43 to 4.73)	0.57
	>20 years	3/65 (4.6%)	0.59 (0.14 to 2.58)	0.48
Sex	Reference: Male	14/183 (7.7%)
	Female	12/237 (5.1%)	0.64 (0.29 to 1.42)	0.28
Sore throat/Cold	Reference: No cold	20/367 (5.5%)
	Current cold or sore throat	6/54 (11.1%)	2.17 (0.83 to 5.67)	0.11
Antibiotic use	Reference: No use last month	24/382 (6.3%)
	Use in the last month	2/39 (5.1%)	0.80 (0.18 to 3.55)	0.78
Smoker	Reference: Non-smoker	25/413 (6.1%)
	Smoker	1/8 (12.5%)	2.22 (0.26 to 18.73)	0.47
E-cigarette	Reference: No E-cig	26/420 (6.2%)
	E-cig user	0/1 (0%)	1
Water pipe use	Reference: No use last month	24/407 (5.9%)
	Use in the last month	2/14 (14.3%)	2.66 (0.56 to 12.57)	0.22
Resident smoker	Reference: Non-smoking	24/348 (6.9%)
	Smoking residence	2/60 (3.3%)	0.47 (0.11 to 2.02)	0.31
Party, or bar	Reference: None last week	5/207 (2.4%)
	One visit in the last week	8/118 (6.8%)	2.94 (0.94 to 9.20)	0.06
	Two or more in the last week	13/85 (15.3%)	7.29 (2.51 to 21.18)	<0.001
Intimate Kissing	Reference: No kissing last week	7/272 (2.6%)
	One or more person	17/135 (12.6%)	5.45 (2.20 to 13.50)	<0.001
Partner	Reference: No partner	15/293 (5.1%)
	Current partner	11/115 (9.6%)	1.96 (0.87 to 4.41)	0.10
Household size	Reference: < 5 people	18/289 (6.2%)
	> than 5 people	8/120 (6.7%)	1.08 (0.45 to 2.54)	0.85
MenB vaccination	Reference: No prior vaccination	26/413 (6.3%)
	Confirmed vaccination	0/6 (0%)	1
Ethnicity	Reference: Caucasian	20/269 (7.4%)
	Asian	3/111 (2.7%)	0.36 (0.10 to 1.88)	0.09
	Other	3/33 (9.1%)	1.25 (0.35 to 4.44)	0.74

Table 5. Genotypic characterization of recovered isolates from throat and saliva samples by meningotype and PubMLST finetyping analysis among participants.

Clonal complex (CC)	Number of isolates, per swab, saliva and visit	MLST (% of isolate)	Serogroup(s) (% of isolates)	PorA type (% of isolates)	FetA	fHbp	BAST
11	Swab 1: 2	ST-11 (33)	W (100)	P1.5,2 (100)	F1-1 (100)	22 (100)	2 (100)
	Swab 2: 1	ST-1287 (67)
	Saliva: 0
23	Swab 1: 7	ST-23 (62)	Y (100)	P1.5–1,10–1 (38)	F4-1 (92)	25 (100)	221 (38)
	Swab 2: 4	ST-1655 (38)		P1.5,2 (23)	F5–12 (8)		427 (23)
	Saliva: 2			P1.5–2,10–1 (31)			228 (31)
				P1.5–2,10–29 (8)			1212 (8)
32	Swab 1: 1	ST-32 (100)	B (100)	P1.7,16–26 (100)	F3-3 (100)	224 (100)	U (100)
	Swab 2: 0
	Saliva: 0
35	Swab 1: 2	ST-35 (100)	NG (100)	P1.22–1,14 (50)	F3-9 (100)	16 (100)	U (100)
	Swab 2: 1			P1.18–1 (50)
	Saliva: 1
41/44	Swab 1: 3	ST-44 (50)	B (83)	P1.18,25–19 (33)	F1-5 (83)	19 (100)	315 (33)
	Swab 2: 2	ST-1097 (17)	NG (17)	P1.18–1,34 (33)	F1-7 (17)		U (67)
	Saliva: 1	ST-6058 (17)		P1.17–1,1 (17)
		ST-13,605 (17)		P1.19–1,26–4 (17)
53	Swab 1: 0	ST-53 (100)	cnl (100)	P1.7,30–4 (100)	F1-2 (100)	102 (100)	1746 (100)
	Swab 2: 1
	Saliva: 1
167	Swab 1: 3	ST-167 (25)	Y (100)	P1.5–1,10–1 (25)	F5-2 (25)	714 (25)	U (25)
	Swab 2: 1	ST-1624 (75)		P1.5-1,10–4 (75)	F3-4 (75)	24 (75)	261 (75)
	Saliva: 0
198	Swab 1: 3	ST-823	cnl (100)	P1.17,9 (33)	F5-5	4 (67)	U (67)
	Swab 2: 0	(100)		P1.18,25 (33)	(100)	31 (33)	1485 (33)
	Saliva: 0			P1.18,ND (33)
213	Swab 1: 1	ST-213 (100)	B (100)	P1.22,14 (100)	F5-36 (100)	45 (100)	U (100)
	Swab 2: 0
	Saliva: 0
1157	Swab 1: 0	ST-1157 (100)	E (100)	P1.21–7,16 (100)	F5-36 (100)	13 (100)	U (100)
	Swab 2: 1
	Saliva: 0
4821	Swab 1: 1	ST-3469 (100)	B (100)	P1.17–6,23– 7 (100)	F3-36 (100)	16 (100)	U (100)
	Swab 2: 1
	Saliva: 1
U	Swab 1: 3	ST-13,603 (50)	B (50)	P1.22,14–6 (50)	F1-4 (50)	101 (50)	1921 (50)
	Swab 2: 2	ST-13,602 (17)	cnl (33)	P1.19,15 (17)	F3-28 (17)	25 (17)	427 (17)
	Saliva: 1	ST-13,604 (17)	Y (17)	P1.5,2 (17)	F4-1 (17)	U (33)	U (33)
		ST-13,606 (17)		P1.ND,ND (17)	F2-5 (17)

*NG – non-groupable; U – unknown