Definition Neisseria meningitidis (the meningococcus) is the cause of epidemic bacterial meningitis, fulminant sepsis (meningococcemia), milder bacteremia, and, less commonly, focal infections (such as pneumonia, septic arthritis, purulent pericarditis, urethritis, and conjunctivitis). The Pathogen N. meningitidis is an aerobic, diplococcal…
Revised December, 2019 Definition and History Neisseria meningitidis (the meningococcus) is the cause of epidemic cerebrospinal fever, clusters and sporadic cases of acute bacterial meningitis, mild bacteremia to devastating septicemia, pneumonia, and, less commonly, septic arthritis, pericarditis, chronic bacteremia, conjunctivitis,…
## Meningococcal disease was first described in Geneva, Switzerland in 1805. Different capsular groups of meningococci were first recognized serologically in 1909, and serogroup B was defined based on the immunological difference in capsular polysaccharide structure in the 1940s. Capsular…