Article Text
PDFCommunity child health, public health, and epidemiology
Pathophysiology of meningococcal meningitis and septicaemia
Abstract
Neisseria meningitidis is remarkable for the diversity of interactions that the bacterium has with the human host, ranging from asymptomatic nasopharyngeal colonisation affecting virtually all members of the population; through focal infections of the meninges, joints, or eye; to the devastating and often fatal syndrome of meningococcal septic shock and purpura fulminans.
- meningitis
- meningococcaemia
- septic shock
- CSF, cerebrospinal fluid
- IL, interleukin
- NCAM, neural cell adhesion molecule
- PAI, plasminogen activator inhibitor
- TFPI, tissue factor pathway inhibitor
- TNF, tumour necrosis factor