The article reviews improvements in European public health policies for managing contacts of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) in 2013, compared with findings of a previous survey conducted in 2007. It shows that, since 2007, more countries have adopted evidence‑based measures such as post‑exposure prophylaxis (PEP) and vaccination to reduce the risk of secondary IMD cases. Despite this progress, important differences remain, particularly in the management of IMD contacts in settings such as airplanes and schools, highlighting the need for further harmonisation of policies across Europe.
The survey was conducted by Sabine, a fellow of the training programme EPIET, based in France, on behalf of an international group of experts working on evidence‑based IMD guidelines. This work represented the culmination of a multi‑year project that began with the above mentioned 2007 survey, which identified major inconsistencies in IMD prophylaxis in the EU countries and led to the development of evidence‑based guidelines for chemoprophylaxis of IMD contacts to address these gaps. The team who carried out these steps remained almost unchanged during the 6 years.