Meningococcemia

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Meningococcal septicemia; Meningococcal blood poisoning; Meningococcal bacteremia

There may be few symptoms at first. Some may include:

• Anxiety
• Fever
• Headache
• Irritability
• Muscle pain
• Nausea
• Rash with red or purple spots (petechiae)

Later symptoms may include:

• Changing level of consciousness
• Large areas of bleeding under the skin (purpura)
• Shock

Blood tests will be done to rule out other infections and help confirm meningococcemia. Such tests may include:

• Blood culture
• Complete blood count with differential
• Clotting studies (PT, PTT)

Other tests that may be done include:

• Lumbar puncture to obtain spinal fluid sample for CSF culture
• Skin biopsy and gram stain
• Urinalysis

Review Date: 09/15/2010
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; Jatin M. Vyas, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Assistant in Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org).

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