Neisseria meningitidis is an encapsulated gram negative diplococcus that colonizes the nasopharynx and is transmitted by aerosol or secretions with the majority of cases occurring in infants and adolescents. Meningococcemia carries a high mortality which is in part due to myocarditis. Early recognition and prompt use of antibiotics improve morbidity and mortality. We report a 55-year-old male p...

INTRODUCTION Fulminant meningococcemia is a relatively rare life-threatening disease caused by Neisseria meningitidis. The clinical presentation is varied, but, when associated with myocarditis, it carries a particularly poor prognosis. We report a case of a patient with fulminant meningococcemia who subsequently developed severe myocardial dysfunction and successfully recovered within a period...

A high index of suspicion for bacterial sepsis and recognition of the potential for rapid deterioration is essential for impacting patient outcome. Meningococcemia produces a stereotypical clinical and biochemical constellation of profound septic shock and purpura fulminans with marked inflammatory disturbance and a complex disruption of coagulation. Meningococcal infections preferentially affe...

We describe the first reported case of meningococcemia in a patient coinfected with hepatitis C virus and HIV. Hypocomplementemia secondary to hepatic dysfunction may have enhanced the patient's susceptibility to meningococcal infection.