CDC’s Bacterial Meningitis Laboratory

Key points

• CDC has a laboratory that works primarily on Haemophilus influenzae and Neisseria meningitidis.
• Both of these pathogens are leading causes of bacterial meningitis in the United States.
• Learn how our laboratory scientists can assist health departments and public health laboratories upon request.

Our work

CDC's Bacterial Meningitis Laboratory focuses on 2 of the leading causes of bacterial meningitis in the United States:

• H. influenzae
• N. meningitidis

Find laboratory information about Streptococcus pneumoniae, which can also cause bacterial meningitis, on the Streptococcus Laboratory site.

Keep ReadingStreptococcus pneumoniae Activities

Key activities

Key activities for the Bacterial Meningitis Laboratory include:

• Surveillance testing for species and serotype confirmation
• Sequencing for outbreak identification
• Surveillance antimicrobial resistance testing
• Supporting laboratory surveillance
• Assisting state epidemiologists and laboratories during outbreak response
• Building international laboratory capacity
• Researching special topics

If you have questions, contact us by email at MeningitisLab@cdc.gov

Laboratory surveillance

CDC's Bacterial Meningitis Laboratory supports laboratory surveillance in 3 primary ways:

• Active Bacterial Core surveillance (ABCs)
• Enhanced meningococcal disease surveillance
• H. influenzae pediatric supplemental surveillance

Active Bacterial Core surveillance

The laboratory supports active collection of laboratory information through ABCs, specifically the Isolate Bank.

For EveryoneActive Bacterial Core surveillance (ABCs)

Enhanced meningococcal disease surveillance

The laboratory also supports enhanced data collection on meningococcal disease in 50 states and 3 large jurisdictions.

Keep ReadingMeningococcal Disease Surveillance and Trends

H. influenzae pediatric supplemental surveillance

The Bacterial Meningitis Laboratory supports enhanced data collection on H. influenzae isolates from children younger than 5 years of age in 23 jurisdictions.

Keep ReadingHaemophilus influenzae Disease Surveillance and Trends

Why it's important

Collecting laboratory information improves public health efforts to protect people from serious illness caused by these pathogens.

Best practices: Diagnosing H. influenzae and meningococcal disease‎

Culture and polymerase chain reaction have both advantages and disadvantages when diagnosing H. influenzae and meningococcal disease. Serotype and serogroup information informs public health response and helps identify outbreaks.

Read the guidance

Reference center

CDC's Bacterial Meningitis Laboratory is a well-recognized reference center for identification and characterization of H. influenzae and N. meningitidis. For these two pathogens, the laboratory can assist state and local health department laboratories with

• Characterizing isolates with features that could impact public health
• Quickly identifying serotype/serogroup during outbreaks
• Identifying phylogenetic relationships between isolates
• Developing and implementing laboratory procedures

**Report suspected outbreaks **to state or local health departments.

All requests require pre-approval

Because of limited resources, the laboratory can't provide molecular characterization for all requests. Characterization is prioritized for isolates or specimens where information is needed to answer pressing public health questions. An outbreak is one example where rapid serotyping/serogrouping and molecular typing has immediate value.

International capacity building

CDC's Bacterial Meningitis Laboratory also helps international laboratories expand their skills and improve the quality of their work.

Specialized research projects

The laboratory is actively involved with specialized research projects that can inform public health prevention and control efforts.

CDC disease sites

• Haemophilus influenzae Disease
• Meningococcal Disease

Manual for the Surveillance of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases

• H. influenzae type b (Hib) chapter
• Meningococcal disease chapter

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