Letters
No evidence exists to support use of penicillin
EDITOR,--Given the current high profile of meningococcal disease in Britain it is extremely important that the BMJ should publish an editorial that is firmly evidence based and reflects current guidance available from experts in infectious diseases and communicable disease control. We are thus concerned about Kristiansen and Knapskog's editorial from Norway, which recommends that high risk contacts should be given chemoprophylaxis and preventive treatment with penicillin.1 While the use of chemoprophylaxis is not disputed, we take issue with their recommendation that household members below the age of 15 should be given penicillin for seven days to protect them from contracting the disease. This recommendation is based on data from a single study, which was published in 1986 in a journal not accessible to most British readers.2
The 1986 citation reports a case series in which it was observed that close contacts aged under 15 of people with meningococcal disease did
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