脑膜炎球菌是唯一能导致全球流行性脑脊髓膜炎（流脑）流行的病因。全球范围内90% 的病例是由A、B、C、Y和W135群所致。欧美国家主要流行菌群为B、C和Y群；亚洲和非洲主要是A、C和W135群。A、C、Y和W135群多糖疫苗能有效控制流脑暴发，但由于在婴儿中免疫原性差，应用并不广泛。发达国家在引进C群结合疫苗后，C群流脑发病数迅速下降。A、C、Y和W135群结合疫苗的研制成功有望控制这些群导致的流脑流行。以外膜囊、外膜蛋白和基因组来源的表面蛋白为目标的B群疫苗研究取得不同程度的进展。

Neisseria meningitides (Nm) is the only cause of endemic meningococcal disease worldwide. Globally, 90% of Nm diseases are caused by groups A, C, Y and W135. Groups B, C and Y are responsible for the majority of cases of Nm disease in Europe and America, and groups A, C and W135 predominate in Asia and Africa. Polysaccharide vaccines against groups A, C, Y and W135 are effective for control of  Nm disease outbreak, but have not been used widely due to poor immunogenicity in infants. The number of cases of group C meningitis has been reduced rapidly after the introduction of group C conjugate vaccines in industrialized countries. Conjugate vaccines against groups A, C, Y and W135 have the potential to control Nm diseases caused by these groups. In addition, research on group B Nm vaccine targeted at outer membrane vesicle, outer membrane proteins and surface antigens originated from the genome have also been made varying progress.