Meningococcal disease is a disease that can be found worldwide. Meningococcal disease refers to any disease or illness that is caused by the type of bacteria called Neisseria meningitides, also called meningococcus (Meningococcal disease, 2015). The first documented outbreak was over two hundred years ago in Geneva in 1805 which circulated rapidly and killed thirty three people. The first case ever recorded in America was in 1806 in Medford, Massachusetts (Fredericks, n.d.). A European physician, Professor A Weichselbaum, discovered the cause of the mysterious cerebro-spinal meningitis illness in 1887 and Penicillin was the first antibiotic used to fight the disease. In 1978 the first vaccine was created and mass vaccinations during that year caused a substantial decline in the number of meningitis outbreaks (Fredericks, n.d.). There are three main types of meningococcal disease serogroups: B, C, and Y. Worldwide there are also A and W-135. USA vaccines cover A, C, W-135, and Y but not B (Coffee, 2015). The incubation period of meningococcal disease ranges from 2 to 10 days. The disease is spread through saliva and respiratory droplets. The most common way people transfer the disease is through kissing, sharing drinks, sharing used silverware, sharing lip balm, and close contact with an infected person who may cough or sneeze within three feet of an individual. Meningococcal meningitis is a fast moving, deadly infection that kills 10 to 13% of its victims within a matter of hours or days (CDC, 2015). Those that do survive usually have severe complications associated with having the disease such as amputations, brain damage, deafness, arthritis, loss of kidney function, and seizures. Increased contributing factors that encourage the spread of the disease results from several things associated with close contact, such
