title: Fever, abdominal pain, and leukopenia in a 13-year-old: a case-based review of meningococcemia.
abstract: The presenting symptoms of meningococcemia are protean, and the illness is rapidly progressive and often fatal, making it simultaneously one of the most dangerous and most important illnesses the Emergency Physician can encounter. It attacks the young and it is highly contagious. This report uses one of the many unusual presentations of meningococcemia as a framework for discussing the epidemiology, presentation, diagnosis, and treatment of meningococcal disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco, California, USA.
authors.forename: Renee Yuen-Jan
authors.initials: RY
authors.lastname: Hsia
authors.forename: Ewen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Wendy T
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Thanassi
mesh_terms: D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000209:etiology; D000293:Adolescent; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D005334:Fever / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D007970:Leukopenia / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008589:Meningococcal Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*