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Results for “MENINGOCOCCAL INFECTIONS”

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PubMed1990

[The enzymatic antioxidant system of the thrombocytes in meningococcal infection].

A study was made of the time-course of changes in the activity of the enzymic antioxidant system of blood platelets from patients with meningococcemia and meningitis (mixed form) of medium gravity. As a result a steady unbalance in the redox system of glutathione was established: a decrease of glutathione reductase activity and rise of the activity of glutathione peroxidases to hydrogen peroxide and tertiary butyl hydroperoxide until the clinical recovery. The patients with meningococcal meningitis and with the mixed form of medium gravity manifested impairment of the interrelations between superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase to hydrogen peroxide, with that impairment being eliminated by the end of the disease. Potential mechanisms by which the enzymic antioxidant system is impaired in meningococcal infection are discussed.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed2004

Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome as a result of non-meningococcal infection.

Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome--massive adrenal haemorrhage in the setting of overwhelming clinical sepsis--is usually taken at necropsy to indicate meningococcal infection, and may be the only evidence of this pathogen. This report describes three fatal cases of the syndrome in which the causative organism proved to be a streptococcus. The organisms were detected during routine coroners' autopsies with histology and microbiological investigations. In two cases, the syndrome followed Streptococcus pneumoniae infection and in a third beta haemolytic streptococcus group A. Thus, adrenal haemorrhage alone cannot be taken to indicate meningococcal disease and other pathogens, particularly streptococcus, must be considered.

Adrenal Gland Diseases↗
PubMed1994

Differential expression of proinflammatory cytokines and their inhibitors during the course of meningococcal infections.

Circulating concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF), interleukin (IL)-1 beta, IL-6, IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra), and soluble TNF receptors p55 (sTNFr-55) and p75 (sTNFr-75) and ex vivo production of TNF, IL-1, IL-6, and IL-1ra using a whole blood culture system were measured during the acute and convalescent stages of meningococcal infection. Circulating TNF and IL-1 were below detection level, whereas IL-6 and IL-1ra, sTNFr-55, and sTNFr-75 were increased at admission. The ex vivo production of proinflammatory cytokines TNF, IL-1, and IL-6 was suppressed at admission and restored gradually during recovery. On the contrary, the production of the antiinflammatory IL-1ra was increased at admission. The elevated concentrations of both IL-1ra and sTNFr early in the course of infection suggest a regulatory role for these antiinflammatory compounds. The observed down-regulation of the ex vivo production of TNF, IL-1, and IL-6 and up-regulation of the production of IL-1ra in the acute stage may indicate a protective regulation mechanism.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1976

[Neurological sequelae of the generalized forms of meningococcal infection in adults (a catamnestic study of patients who suffered the disease during 1971--1974)].

The authors conducted a follow-up examination of 118 patients who had meningocaccial meningoencephalitis and meningitis in 1971--1974. Besides a neurological examination the authors performed psychological and EEG studies. It was established that the main expressions of the meningococcial infection during the first 2--3 months following the acute period (and in separate cases up to 1 year and more) were: asthenical syndromes of a different degree, diffuse focal symptoms, neuritis of the cranial nerves, distrubed mental activity and changes in the EEG. For these reasons the estimation of the period of restored working capacity after generalized forms of meningococcical infections should always be strictly individual.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Treating meningococcal infections in children.

Aggressive early treatment of meningococcal disease in children can reduce mortality. This relies on prompt recognition of septicaemia and meningitis, and treatment of the complications of shock and raised intracranial pressure.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

[Criteria of the epidemiological surveillance of meningococcal infection].

The results of studies carried out with the use of the unified, specially developed methods in eight regions of the USSR are generalized. Basing on the analysis of the results, the leading role of serogroup A meningococci in the rise of morbidity is emphasized, the relation of the morbidity level to the serogroup composition of meningococci circulating among healthy population is revealed, the necessity of carrying out selective bacteriological surveys with a view to establish the serogroups of meningococci circulating among the population is shown. The expedient criteria to be used in the system of epidemiological surveillance of meningococcal infection are presented.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed1987

[Microanalytical methods: latex agglutination and immunoenzyme analysis in the diagnosis of meningococcal infection].

Modified polystyrene latexes with high adsorption capacity, comparable to that of latexes produced by Difco Laboratories (USA), have been developed in the USSR. Diagnostic latex preparations for the detection of meningococci of serogroups A, C, Y and Haemophilus influenza, type b, prepared on the basis of these new latexes, have shown high specificity and sensitivity in experimental and clinical tests. The latex preparations for the detection of serogroup B meningococci requires further improvement. The use of latex preparations, together with other laboratory methods, in the diagnosis of meningococcal infection has promoted the etiological confirmation of the disease in 84% of cases; this method has proved to be 1.5 times more effective than the bacteriological one and not less sensitive than the enzyme immunoassay, while being more specific.

Adsorption↗
PubMed1982

Prevalence of Neisseria meningitidis in family members of patients with meningococcal infection.

The aim of the study was first, to determine the prevalence of Neisseria meningitidis among the family members living with patients suffering from meningococcal infections, and second, to ascertain the distribution among these family members of strains epidemiologically related to those isolated from patients. Forty-two family groups were studied and 135 nasopharyngeal samples were taken from family members living with patients. Twenty family groups were found to contain meningococcal carriers, and of these 20, 13 contained a carrier of the strain that caused the infection (65%). Among the family members who were carriers, the mother and father most frequently yielded the strain which caused the illness. The serotypes most frequently encountered both in patients and carriers were 2 and 8, as well as nontypable strains. The polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic patterns (PAGE) most frequently found were II and IV. A notable feature of the study is the high resistance of the strains to sulphadiazine, since more than 90% of the strains found in patients and more than 75% of those from carriers possessed a minimum inhibitory concentration greater than or equal to 10 micrograms/ml.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Prospects for vaccine prevention of meningococcal infection.

Neisseria meningitidis is the leading cause of bacterial meningitis in the United States and worldwide. A serogroup A/C/W-135/Y polysaccharide meningococcal vaccine has been licensed in the United States since 1981 but has not been used universally outside of the military. On 14 January 2005, a polysaccharide conjugate vaccine that covers meningococcal serogroups A, C, W-135, and Y was licensed in the United States for 11- to 55-year-olds and is now recommended for the routine immunization of adolescents and other high-risk groups. This review covers the changing epidemiology of meningococcal disease in the United States, issues related to vaccine prevention, and recommendations on the use of the new vaccine.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

Iron as a replacement for mucin in the establishment of meningococcal infection in mice.

Experimental infection of mice with Neisseria meningitidis was established by the injection of the bacteria suspended in solutions of various iron compounds. The progressive and fatal infection caused by otherwise non-lethal doses of organisms was produced in these mice after prior injection with ferrous sulphate or concomitant injection with iron sorbitol citrate or iron dextran. Reduction in LD50 to levels at least comparable to those obtained in the mucin challenge system was achieved; in some serogroups of N. meningitidis the LD50 was decreased more than a million fold. The results suggest that iron, which is a component of hog gastric mucin, is a factor involved in the establishment of meningococcal infection in mice. Use of iron compounds as injection medium offers a more advantageous system than mucin, since controlled administration of chemically defined substances occurs.

Animals↗