Direct contact with respiratory and throat secretions through coughing, sneezing and kissing spreads the infection. Incidence occurs most frequently in areas of poverty and overcrowded living conditions. The very young have the highest risk of disease. Because of the relative ease of transmission in close quarters and the presence of asymptomatic carriers, travel and migration can hasten the spread of meningitis within a country and among countries. Serogroups W135, X, Y and Z are disease-producing as well.
Prompt treatment is necessary.
There is no vaccine against the meningococcal B type.