title: Meningococcal infections in hospitalised patients in Pretoria.
abstract: We report on 13 patients diagnosed with meningococcal infections in patients attending state-owned hospitals serving an indigent population in Pretoria in 2009. The case fatality rate was 27%. Ceftriaxone was the main antibiotic (9 out of 13 patients) for therapy. Five isolates (39%) were serogroup B and 4 (31%) serogroup W135. Most isolates (12/13) were fully susceptible to penicillin (MIC range 0.016 - 0.047 μg/ml). A single isolate was intermediately resistant to penicillin (MIC, 0.125 μg/ml) while all isolates were uniformly susceptible to ceftriaxone, ciprofloxacin and rifampicin. This pattern reveals a shift in serogroups with an increase of serogroup B disease in the Pretoria region, and the need for ongoing monitoring of antimicrobial susceptibility profiles and the value of ceftriaxone for favourable therapeutic outcome.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Moodley
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Lekalakala
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: de Gouveia
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dangor
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Hoosen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007297:Inpatients; D008297:Male; D008489:Medical Indigency; D008589:Meningococcal Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality*; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D010406:Penicillins / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D010406:Penicillins