Table 3. Overview of the Most Used Methods for the Detection of N. meningitidis.

Assay	Turnaround time	Antimicrobial treatment/antibiotic on outcomes	Quantitative measure
Culture	24–48h or longer	Yes	No
Agglutination	15 min-1h	Yes	No
LFA	15–30 min	Yes	No
Traditional PCR	3h	No	No
Real-time PCR	3h	No	Yes
HM-MCDA-LFB	1h	No	No
HM-RT-MCDA	1h	No	Yes