Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0085437 (bacterial meningitis)
 4,038 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We report a 4-year-old boy with fulminating meningitis caused by Haemophilus influenzae (Hib). He suddenly developed fever, vomiting and then somnolence. As bacterial meningitis was suspected, treatment with antibiotics was started at 12 hours after the onset. However, there was a rapid progression of severe brain edema and brain hernia, leading to clinical brain death. His clinical course and neuroradiological findings mimicked those in patients with acute encephalopathy, with cytokine profiles in cerebrospinal fluid demonstrating a marked increase of inflammatory cytokines. From a review of the literature, fulminating Hib meningitis may be classified into two disease types: DIC plus multiple organ failure and acute brain swelling types. The present case belongs to the latter type, in which cytokine storm seems to play an important pathogenic role.
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PMID:[Fulminating meningitis caused by Haemophilus influenzae with rapid progression of severe brain edema similar to acute encephalopathy]. 1992 44

The Gram-negative pathogen Neisseria meningitidis, is one of the leading causes of bacterial meningitis worldwide (1). The host range for this organism is restricted to humans, where it colonizes the mucosal epithelium of the upper airway. It occasionally disseminates causing invasive disease (sepsis, disseminated intravascular coagulation [DIC], meningitis). Epidemic meningococcal meningitis is a major health problem, most notably in sub-Saharan Africa. In 1999, an outbreak of meningococcal disease spread across Guinea-Bissau, a region that is part of what is commonly called the African meningitis belt (2). There were 2,169 reported cases and 404 deaths resulting from meningococcal disease in this outbreak from Jan. 1 to April 5, 1999. Also in 1999, there were reported outbreaks in Sudan (22,000 cases and 1,600 deaths) Rwanda (29 cases and 11 deaths), Angola (253 cases and 147 deaths), Ethiopia (126 cases and 4 deaths) and Senegal (2,709 cases and 372 deaths) (2). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), each year approx 500,000 cases of meningitis and 50,000 deaths are attributable to N. meningitidis worldwide. In the United States, meningococcal disease is less common, although small outbreaks are reported each year (3).
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PMID:Isolation and analysis of radiolabeled meningococcal endotoxin. 2133 60