This article reviews whether giving antibiotics (chemoprophylaxis) to children or students who have been in the same preschool, school, or college as someone with meningococcal disease helps prevent further cases. We found that while there is no direct evidence comparing those who did and did not receive antibiotics in these settings, there is consistent indirect evidence showing that children in preschools who have been exposed to a case are at a higher risk of getting the disease compared to the general population, though their risk is still much lower than that of people living in the same household as the sick person. The risk in primary schools is also slightly higher, but not in older students or college settings. Based on this, we recommended considering antibiotics for preschool contacts, especially if the children spent a lot of time together, but not for all school or college contacts unless there was close, prolonged contact.
With a small team of experts, we conducted literature reviews to assess evidence on the prevention of meningococcal disease in different settings. Wiebke, an outstanding epidemiologist from Germany, led the assessment of evidence related to school setting. Because these findings were significant and had not been published previously, we decided to prepare a manuscript to share them with the scientific community and healthcare practitioners.