Musculoskeletal Imaging

Meningococcaemia

a septicaemia caused by Neisseria meningitidis, which varies remarkably in severity. In some patients it is a benign and asymptomatic illness but in others it is a fulminant and fatal disorder (Waterhouse Friderichsen syndrome). The organisms commonly lodge in the central nervous system, skin, adrenal glands and serosal surfaces.

Among the manifestations of meningococcaemia are fever, shaking chills, skin eruption, petechiae, myalgias and a variety of neurologic manifestations. In the Waterhouse Friderichsen syndrome, patients may develop hypotension, confusion, tachypnoea and peripheral cyanosis. Disseminated intravascular coagulation with consumption coagulopathy produces diffuse bleeding from mucosal surfaces and the skin in some patients. Characteristic skeletal abnormalities (e.g. localized premature fusion of part of several physes) may appear in children months or years after recovery, with subsequent epiphyseal disintegration, bowing and angular deformities. Arthritis related to meningococcus may also occur but is not common.

DR