In a random sample taken from 216 children aged 5 to 14 years, within a public primary school placed in a district showing a high incidence of meningococcal disease, at Antafagasta city (Northern Chile), eighteen healthy carriers of N. meningitidis group B (8,3%) were detected. Oral cefixime 8 mg · kg day once a day was given to them for two days to test its efficacy in the eradication of N. meningitidis in healthy carriers. Mild adverse reactions which disappeared spontaneously in all cases were recorded in 5/18 children. Negative results were obtained in pharyngeal secretion cultures from all these carriers at 7, 14 and 90 days after treatment. Despite obvious limitations in sample size and epidemiological follow-up aspects of this study, cefixime looks like a probably effective alternate regimen in meningococcal disease prophylaxis.