A premature infant with fulminant meningococcal septicaemia.
The case is described of a 10-week-old preterm infant, a twin boy born at 34 weeks of gestational age. The day after a hernia operation he had a rapidly progressive fulminant Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B septicaemia, of which he died despite immediate and adequate treatment. No secondary cases occurred among other infants on the neonatal intensive care unit. Epidemiological investigation revealed that of 185 bacterial throat cultures performed on 17 infants on the ward, 37 close relatives to the infants and 131 medical personnel in contact with the deceased patient, 4 (2.2%) were asymptomatic carriers of N. meningitidis. Serotyping and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis of the genomic DNA of the N. meningitidis isolates revealed that the infant and his father had closely related strains.
Selander
Bo
B
Department of Paediatrics, Lund University Hospital, Lund, Sweden.
Schliamser
Silvia
S
Schalén
Claes
C
Fredlund
Hans
H
Unemo
Magnus
M
Johansson
P J Hugo
PJ
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D018450:Disease Progression; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; D008297:Male; D008589:Meningococcal Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D009345:Neisseria meningitidis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D018805:Sepsis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents