We report here a very rare case of primary meningococcal arthritis of the knee joint without clinical features associated with meningococcemia, meningitis, or meningococcal complications. The patient suffered from diabetes mellitus and had experienced two episodes of joint trauma. Intravenous infusion of ampicillin/sulbactam for 18 consecutive days was successful.

A case of Guillain-Barré syndrome following meningococcal meningitis is reported. The diagnosis was made on clinical grounds and the results of electrophysiological studies. The patient recovered spontaneously. Guillain-Barré syndrome following meningococcal infection has not to our knowledge been reported previously.

Invasive meningococcal infections show a broad clinical picture in sepsis and meningitis. The clinical reports of the disease do not include diarrhea as an initial clinical presentation, since it is only seldom reported. Here is a description of two cases of meningococcal infection with diarrhea as the main initial clinical manifestation and posterior emergence of the classical signs and symptoms.

What is meningococcal disease? Meningococcal disease is caused by the bacterium Neisseria meningitidis. The bacteria are transmitted from person to person through nasopharyngeal secretions. Close and prolonged contact is usually required for transmission. Most people carry the bacteria asymptomatically in the nose and throat. Disease occurs very rarely when bacteria invade the bloodstream. Meni...

Bacterial meningitis is uncommon but causes significant mortality and morbidity, despite optimum antibiotic therapy. A clinical trial in 301 patients showed a beneficial effect of adjunctive steroid treatment in adults with acute community-acquired pneumococcal meningitis, but data on other organisms or adverse events are sparse. This led us to do a quantitative systematic review of adjunctive ...

Meningococcal meningitis is a climate sensitive infectious disease. The regional extent of the Meningitis Belt in Africa, where the majority of epidemics occur, was originally defined by Lapeysonnie in the 1960s. A combination of climatic and environmental conditions and biological and social factors have been associated to the spatial and temporal patterns of epidemics observed since the disea...

Hybridomas were produced from spleen cells of BALB/c mice immunized with a membrane preparation from Neisseria meningitidis group A strain 4402 and S194/5.XXOBU.14 myeloma cells. The hybridomas were screened for secretion of antibodies suitable for an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) diagnostic for group A meningococcal meningitis. One hybridoma antibody, 3G7, was directed against the ...

The development of effective meinigococcal vaccines was based upon the finding that immunity to the meningococcus was directly correlated with serum bactericidal antibodies. Purified high molecular weight capsular polysaccharides of serogroups A and C meningococci stimulated the production of humoral antibodies which had group specific bactericidal activity. In controlled field trials in Army...

BACKGROUND To understand epidemiologic patterns of meningococcal disease in Asia, we performed a retrospective molecular analysis of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) specimens collected in prospective surveillance among children aged < 5 years of age in China, South Korea, and Vietnam. METHODS A total of 295 isolates and 2,302 CSFs were tested by a meningococcal species- and serogroup-specific polym...

BACKGROUND The epidemiology of meningococcal disease in Mozambique and other African countries located outside the "meningitis belt" remains widely unknown. With the event of upcoming vaccines microbiological and epidemiological information is urgently needed. METHODS Prospective surveillance for invasive bacterial infections was conducted at the Manhiça District hospital (rural Mozambique) a...