BACKGROUND Meningococcal meningitis is a major health problem in the "African Meningitis Belt" where recurrent epidemics occur during the hot, dry season. In Niger, a central country belonging to the Meningitis Belt, reported meningitis cases varied between 1,000 and 13,000 from 2003 to 2009, with a case-fatality rate of 5-15%. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS In order to gain insight in the ep...

Neisseria meningitidis (N. meningitidisis) the second most common cause of community-acquired adult bacterial meningitis. [1] It has been recognized as a major health problem specially in developing region of the word. The clinical manifestations of meningococcal disease can be quite varied, ranging from transient fever and bacteraemia to fulminant disease with death ensuing within hours of the...

BACKGROUND Few published reports have evaluated the clinical features and outcome of serogroup W135 meningococcal disease. In Taiwan, W135 is the second most prevalent meningococcal disease serogroup. METHOD A nationwide study was conducted to retrospectively analyze epidemiologic data from 115 patients with laboratory confirmed meningococcal disease that occurred from 2001 through 2003. RE...

BACKGROUND Streptococcus pneumoniae and Neisseria meningitidis are frequent pathogens in life-threatening infections. Genetic variation in the immune system may predispose to these infections. Nuclear factor-κB is a key component of the TLR-pathway, controlled by inhibitors, encoded by the genes NFKBIA, NFKBIE and NFKBIZ. We aimed to replicate previous findings of genetic variation associated w...

BACKGROUND To better understand localized meningococcal meningitis epidemics, we evaluated a serogroup A (NmA) epidemic in Burkina Faso by surveillance, carriage, and seroprevalence studies. METHODS During March-April 2006, cerebrospinal fluid samples from patients suspected to have meningitis in 3 epidemic villages were analyzed by culture or polymerase chain reaction. We assessed meningococ...

Bacterial meningitis and meningococcal sepsis are rare conditions with high case fatality rates. Early recognition and prompt treatment saves lives. In 1999 the British Infection Society produced a consensus statement for the management of immunocompetent adults with meningitis and meningococcal sepsis. Since 1999 there have been many changes. We therefore set out to produce revised guidelines ...

Two infants are described in whom identical strains of meningococcus were isolated from both the eyes and the cerebrospinal fluid. This suggests that the eye may be a portal of entry in at least some cases of perinatally acquired neonatal meningococcal disease and has important implications for the management of purulent conjunctivitis in the newborn.

BACKGROUND Group A Neisseria meningitidis has been a major cause of bacterial meningitis in the sub-Saharan region of Africa in the meningitis belt. Neisseria meningitidis is an encapsulated pathogen, and antibodies against the capsular polysaccharide are protective. Polysaccharide-protein conjugate vaccines have proven to be highly effective against several different encapsulated bacterial pat...

Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) represents a public health problem and a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. IMD can occur as an endemic disease with sporadic cases or epidemics with outbreaks. Neisseria meningitis strains are divided into 13 serogroups, but only five (A, B, C, W-135, and Y) are responsible for most IMD across the world. All age groups are at risk for IMD, ...

Van de Beek et al. present new important data concerning the clinical outcome of patients with alcoholism and pneumococcal meningitis. The data was derived from a subgroup analysis of the patient population of their comparative key study on neuropsychological sequelae after pneumococcal versus meningococcal meningitis (van de Beek et al., 2002). With respect to our paper, they raised three issu...