BACKGROUND: Epidemics of meningococcal meningitis occur periodically in the African 'meningitis belt' and are mainly, but not only, due to serogroup A. METHODS: We tested a dipstick as a rapid detection test (RDT) to detect serogroup A using 401 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples. RESULTS: The detection limits were 10(5) CFU/ml with sensitivity and specificity for detecting serogroup A in CSF samples of 88% and 99%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The new RDT can be used in field surveillance of meningococcal meningitis to help characterize meningitis cases particularly after introduction of the conjugate vaccine against serogroup A.