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Query: UMLS:C0085437 (bacterial meningitis)
 4,038 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The possible contribution of additional immunologic variables to the susceptibility of late complement component-deficient individuals to meningococcal disease has not been systematically examined in previous studies. Thus, we studied three groups of patients: (1) 24 healthy individuals, (2) 8 complement-sufficient individuals with a history of recurrent bacterial meningitis, and (3) 19 complement-deficient individuals with prior meningococcal infection. No statistical differences were noted among the three groups for the following parameters: the absolute number and the percentage of lymphocytes; CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, CD20+, and CD16+ cells; and the CD4+/CD8+ ratio. The concentration of C4 and circulating immune complexes was also similar among the groups. The concentrations of IgG, IgM, and IgA were slightly, but significantly, decreased in the complement-deficient individuals. Of interest, the coefficient of spontaneous and lipopolysaccharide-stimulated activation of neutrophils was significantly depressed in the deficient individuals. We hypothesize that the terminal complement components may participate in maximal neutrophil activation.
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PMID:Immunological evaluation of late complement component-deficient individuals. 164 49

In this work the diagnostic value of group B meningococcal erythrocyte diagnosticum was determined. 585 blood serum samples taken from adult donors were studied: 220 samples from practically healthy persons and 365 samples from 144 patients with meningococcal infection and purulent bacterial meningitis of nonmeningococcal etiology. Group B meningococcal erythrocyte diagnosticum was found to possess serological activity and to reveal the growth of specific antibodies in the sera of patients with meningococcal infection, serologically confirmed by the isolation of group B meningococcal culture, in 100% of cases on weeks 2-3 of the disease. Diagnostic characteristics--specificity and sensitivity--for group B erythrocyte diagnosticum were, respectively, 90.2% and 63.5%. The study revealed that antibodies to several group-specific meningococcal polysaccharides in blood sera can be simultaneously determined in the passive hemagglutination test with a set of erythrocyte diagnostica, which should be taken into consideration in the clinical interpretation of serological results.
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PMID:[The diagnostic value of a meningococcal-B erythrocyte diagnostic agent based on the group-specific polysaccharide]. 212 75

Neisseria meningitidis, the meningococcus, remains a major cause of bacterial meningitis. Previously developed animal models for this infection do not adequately mimic its natural pathogenesis in humans. We have investigated a number of different potential animal models and describe a neonatal mouse model. Meningococci were instilled intranasally into five-day-old mice; invasiveness was measured by blood cultures and cisternal puncture, and colonization was determined by nasal cultures. Fifty two percent of mice became bacteremic after instillation of strains which are virulent for humans. Human carrier strains were avirulent in this model. Iron dextran enhanced the nasal colonization, invasiveness and mortality due to disease-associated isolates but had no effect on carrier strains. Colonization rates were similar for all strains. There was a marked age-related change in susceptibility to infection which was inversely correlated with levels of serums C3. Immunization of Swiss CD1 dams with N. meningitidis serotype 2 vaccine protected their litters from meningococcal infection. Protective levels of serum antibody were acquired by neonatal mice after suckling immunized dams. The neonatal mouse meets most of the criteria for an appropriate animal model for meningococcemia.
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PMID:A neonatal mouse model of meningococcal disease. 308 62

The laboratory examination, by microscopic or bacteriological methods and by counterimmunoelectrophoresis, of CSF and blood from 2653 patients with purulent bacterial meningitis, including those with clinically diagnosed meningococcal infection, was carried out between June 1980 and June 1984. The results showed three main etiological agents: meningococci (79.9%), pneumococci (10.8%) and Haemophilus influenzae type b (5.25%). Out of 488 Neisseria meningitidis strains isolated from the CSF or blood, 58.2% belonged to serogroup A, 17.2% to serogroup B, and 14% to serogroup C; infection due to the B serogroup reached nearly 59% among children in 1984. Serotypes were determined in 131 out of 151 strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae and the most frequent were types 1, 19 and 3; type 34, which was isolated from 4 patients, is not a component of the pneumococcal vaccine. The age groups at high risk were children under 5 years old (for meningococcal infection), adults and babies in the first year (pneumococcal meningitis), and children under 3 years, especially between 6 months and 2 years old (H.influenzae type b infection).
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PMID:Surveillance of meningococcal infections and other forms of purulent meningitis: a 4-year study in the USSR. 348 41

A nationwide epidemiological survey on invasive (blood and/or CSF culture positive) Haemophilus influenzae (HI) and meningococcal infections was performed in Finland in 1976-1980. The mean annual incidence of HI infection was 3.4/100,000 inhabitants (813 cases) vs. 2.0/100,000 (469 cases) of meningococcal infection. HI infections showed no geographical predilection, but meningococcal disease, mainly of group B, was more common in northern than in southern Finland (p less than 0.005). Meningitis accounted for 61% of the HI and 91% of the meningococcal infections. The overall fatality rates were 3.1% and 7.9%, respectively. Children accounted for 94% of the HI and 59% of the meningococcal cases. The overall annual incidence of bacterial meningitis in children (less than 15 years) was 19/100,000; in children less than 5 years it was 52/100,000. HI was the most common (62%) causative agent, followed by meningococci (18%) and pneumococci (5%). The fatality rate was 4%. Major neurological sequelae were found in 5%, minor ones in 16%. It was calculated that 42% of the cases of meningitis could have been prevented by vaccines now available on the market. Vaccines now under field investigation may increase the preventability to about 65%.
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PMID:Invasive haemophilus influenzae and meningococcal infections in Finland. A climatic, epidemiologic and clinical approach. 356 24

The records of 476 infants and children with bacterial meningitis treated between 1979 and 1982 were reviewed. By the sixth hospital day 90% or more of children with pneumococcal or meningococcal infection compared with 72% of children with Haemophilus infection (P less than 0.001) were afebrile. The rates of prolonged fever for 10 days or more, persistent fever for 5 to 9 days and secondary fever were 13, 13 and 16%, respectively. The conditions associated with prolonged fever for 10 days or more were subdural effusion (27%), drug fever (23%) and concomitant arthritis or pneumonia (20%); 15% were of indeterminable cause. The principal conditions associated with persistent fever for 5 to 9 days were other foci of disease (17%), nosocomial infections (16%) and subdural effusion (14%); in 42% the cause was unknown. The conditions associated with secondary fever were nosocomial infections (27%) and subdural effusion (23%); 39% were of indeterminable cause. Neither the duration nor the patterns of fever correlated with neurologic abnormalities at discharge, including hearing deficit.
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PMID:Fever during treatment for bacterial meningitis. 647 34

The purpose of this study was to examine the occurrence of late complement component deficiency (LCCD) states in the USSR. Thirty deficient individuals were detected: 27 with C8 beta and 3 with C7 deficiency. Among individuals with a first episode of meningococcal infection, about 1% had LCCD, whereas among patients with recurrent bacterial meningitis the prevalence of LCCD rose to approximately 50%. This corresponds to a prevalence for LCCD of approximately 12 per 100,000 in the general population. The individuals with LCCD identified in this study experienced about 77 episodes of meningococcal disease and acute bacterial meningitis. Mathematical analysis of the morbidity from meningococcal disease in individuals with LCCD demonstrated that the probability of disease did not change with the age of the patient and was not affected by prior episodes of infection. This finding suggest that in contrast to the situation in the general population, prior infection fails to protect the deficient individual from recurrent disease. In comparison to complement-sufficient persons, the course of disease in individuals with LCCD is less severe, as shown by a reduction in the number of episodes of endotoxic shock and mortality as well as their more rapid recovery. These findings suggest that exuberant complement activation and concomitant formation of membrane attack complexes during meningococcal infection in complement-sufficient patients plays an important role in the activation and injury of peripheral blood cells and endothelial cells during endotoxic shock.
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PMID:Meningococcal disease in patients with late complement component deficiency: studies in the U.S.S.R. 823 87

Meningococcal disease is an infection caused by Neisseria meningitidis, a gram-negative diplococcus that is the leading cause of bacterial meningitis in children and young adults in the United States, with an estimated 2,600 cases reported each year. N. meningitidis infection rates are highest in children 3 to 12 months of age. Four distinct clinical situations are associated with meningococcal infection. The most common is asymptomatic nasopharyngeal colonization. Benign bacteremia is discovered in the absence of classical clinical findings of meningococcemia, but blood cultures are positive for N. meningitidis. Meningitis, the most common pathologic presentation, is associated with fever, headache, and nuchal rigidity. The mortality rate is about 5% in children and 10% to 15% in adults. Meningococcemia, the most severe form of infection, may involve petechial rash, hypotension, and disseminated intravascular coagulation. It is a fulminant condition that can, if untreated, progress from initial symptoms to coma and death in 12 to 48 hours. Spread of these endemic cases can be controlled by administering prophylactic antibiotics to close contacts of patients.
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PMID:Meningococcal disease: recognition, treatment, and prevention. 971

The objective of this study was to describe the epidemiology and public health response to an apparent cluster of Neisseria meningitidis serogroup C infection in university students in a residential college. A conventional epidemiological approach was taken, supported by routine and novel diagnostic techniques. Over the two days of 21-22 August 1997, three cases of suspected meningococcal infection were notified from a residential college complex at a university campus in the Sydney metropolitan area. Neisseria meningitidis was grown from throat swabs of all three cases, and was isolated from the blood of one case only. All three isolates were typed as C:2a:P1.5,2. Seroconversion was demonstrated by a novel method in the three cases. Rifampicin was given to all identified contacts. Forty-seven days after the index case, a 19 year old female living in the same complex was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis, and identified contacts given rifampicin. When this isolate was found to be group C, it was decided to vaccinate residents of the college complex. Genotyping and serotyping (C:2a:P1.5) later revealed the fourth isolate to be distinct from isolates from Cases 1-3. In conclusion the authors note that Australia's increasing capacity to type meningococcal strains is essential to understanding the epidemiology of this disease. Furthermore, typing information is of critical importance when decisions are made regarding mass vaccination. As early antibiotic treatment may inhibit isolation of the organism, development of novel approaches to diagnosis and typing should be supported.
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PMID:Unusual cluster of mild invasive serogroup C meningococcal infection in a university college. 1058 18

Apart from meningococcal disease in the sub-Saharan meningitis belt, the incidence and impact of life-threatening bacterial diseases in children across Africa have not been quantified. The clinical and epidemiological data on pneumococcal, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), and other forms of bacterial meningitis, as well as data on other severe bacterial infections throughout the continent were scrutinized. Pneumococci were the leading causative agents of nonepidemic meningitis and other bacteremic diseases, followed by Hib. Meningococcal diseases were less common. Mortality rates associated with pneumococcal, Hib, and meningococcal meningitis were 549 (45%) of 1211 patients, 389 (29%) of 1352 patients, and 104 (8%) of 1236 patients, respectively; sequelae occurred in 50%, 40%, and 10% of cases. At 0-4 years of age, the estimated incidences of Hib meningitis and all classic Hib diseases were 70 and 100 cases per 100,000 population per year, accounting for approximately 90,000 and 120,000 cases per year, respectively. Including older age groups and, especially, nonbacteremic Hib pneumonia in the estimates of Hib disease in Africa increased the overall numbers manifold; the numbers of pneumococcal infections were even greater. The only realistic way to combat these severe infections efficaciously would be through widespread vaccination, starting with Hib conjugates.
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PMID:Burden of meningitis and other severe bacterial infections of children in africa: implications for prevention. 1111 73


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