the absence of cerebrospinal fluid (csf) pleocytosis in invasive meningococcal disease (imd) has been associated with an increased risk of death. it is unknown whether patients who lack a cellular response to central nervous system (cns) infection are at the same risk of adverse outcome as patiens without cns infection. to determine the frequency of presentation and outcome of three groups of c...

Neisseria meningitidis serogroups A, B, C, W, X, and Y cause outbreaks of meningococcal disease. Quadrivalent conjugate vaccines targeting the are available. A pentavalent vaccine that also includes serogroup X (NmCV-5) is under development.

The 3 patients infected with W135 in our study did not receive bivalent meningococcal vaccines. W135 meningococcal disease appears to be an emerging problem that should be investigated epidemiologically. These patients highlight the need for further epidemiologic surveillance to monitor changes in the incidence of meningococcal disease caused by W135 and for improved public health disease contr...

CONTEXT Use of the quadrivalent meningococcal vaccine for control of outbreaks has increased in recent years, but the efficacy of meningococcal vaccine during mass vaccination campaigns in US civilian populations has not been assessed. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the efficacy of the quadrivalent meningococcal vaccine against serogroup C meningococcal disease in a community outbreak setting and to ...

Serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis is a frequent cause of invasive meningococcal disease, yet there are no effective vaccines suitable for routine immunisation. Limited efficacy has been shown with meningococcal outer membrane vacccines in children 4 years and older. Here we review the status of current research and consider new approaches to development of meningococcal serogroup B vaccines.

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...

Invasive meningococcal disease is a serious life-threatening infection. Skin rash is present in about half of the patients with meningococcal infection. However it could be easily missed if no thorough cutaneous examination is performed. Herein, we present a patient with invasive meningococcal serogroup B infection with diffuse cutaneous purplish rash and ecchymoses, suggestive of purpura fulmi...

The incidence of invasive meningococcal disease in adolescents and young adults of high school and college age has recently increased in the United States. Recent studies indicate that certain groups of college students are at increased risk. This has led to the recent Advisory Committee Immunization Practices recommendation that college freshman dormitory residents be provided information abou...

Meningococcal disease is a fulminant infection with an overall mortality of 8%. Mortality is significantly increased with meningococcal septicaemia, particularly when there has been a delay in the diagnosis. The trend from 1985 to 1995 has been an increase in incidence of this disease, and the relative importance of meningococcal disease has also increased following a fall in the incidence of i...

A 20-y-old male presented with symptoms of meningococcal sepsis and died despite appropriate medical interventions. Blood cultures grew N. meningitidis serogroup Y. The patient had received the meningococcal quadrivalent (A,C,W-135,Y) polysaccharide vaccine 15 mo previously. Because the patient had a history of meningococcal meningitis at age 10, archived serum was obtained for further analysis...