The gold standard of diagnosis is isolation of N.meningitidis from sterile body fluids. In Niger this method is widely used for any suspected patients because it helps not only to diagnose the disease but also to relieve pain by lowering CSF pressure. A CSF sample is immediately sent to the laboratory and cultured on a chocolate agar plate since N.meningitidis can only be cultured on plates containing blood. Culture media is supplied from abroad since it is difficult to maintain sterility of culture media produced in Niger. N.meningitidis should be kept in the condition with 5-10% CO2, so candle jars are used in Niger instead of expensive CO2 incubators. It takes about 16 hours to cultivate the bacterium. As the fatality rate of the disease is 5-10% within 24-48 hours after onset, it is critical to start testing as soon as possible.

Upon infection, patients should be hospitalized immediately for treatment with antibiotics such as penicillin G, ceftriaxone, and cefotaxime, or chloramphenicol for penicillin-sensitive patients. If a person has symptoms of meningitis or meningococcemia, antibiotics should be taken even before the laboratory test results are confirmed. All recent contacts of the infected patient 7 days prior to onset should also receive medication (rifampin, cefriaxone or ciprofloxacin) as an added precaution. Children, young adults, and anyone with direct contact to the patient should be especially cautious. Those who stayed or ate at the patient's home during the 7 days prior to visible symptoms, or those who sat beside the patient on an airplane flight of 8 hours or longer, should also receive chemoprophylaxis.

Vaccination prior to outbreak of the disease is the most effective way to prevent infection but the urgent reactive vaccination with polysaccharide vaccine against type A meningococcus is also effective.

Reference: Mola SJ, Nield LS, and Weisse ME (February 27, 2008). "Treatment and Prevention of N. meningitidis Infection". Infections in Medicine