My mother pointed out that patients have been endangering others in waiting rooms since doctors stopped doing home visits thirty years ago. Like kids with rubella around pregnant women.

I don't even know exactly how prevalent it is here - I know my sister's had it, and there used to be a lot of "don't share drink bottles or you'll get meningitis AND DIE" public service announcements, but it just seems... fairly normal. Like I reckon right now there is more of a chance of getting meningitis here than swine flu (varying depending on region - basically all the south island cases are in my region, except for one, the last I heard).