Ann Infect Dis Epidemiol | Volume 4, Issue 1 | Case Report | Open Access

Community-Acquired Pneumonia due to Neisseria meningitidis Serogroup B

Noor Sameh Darwich1* and W Grant Starrett2

1Faculty of Medicine, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan
2Department of Medicine, Wright State University, USA

*Correspondance to: Noor Sameh Darwich 

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Abstract

Neisseria meningitidis can cause a wide variety of disease, the most common being meningococcal meningitis and meningococcemia syndromes; however, other presentations include epiglottitis, otitis media, pericarditis, septic arthritis, urethritis, conjunctivitis and rarely, community-acquired pneumonia. Outbreaks of pneumonia with this organism have been seen in the military. Positive respiratory sample cultures for Neisseria meningitidis may be considered colonization in the absence of a clinical picture of pneumonia. The site of colonization for Neisseria meningitidis is the Naso-oropharynx, and person-to-person transmission can occur by direct contact or through nasal-oral secretion droplets. The outcome in meningococcal pneumonia is generally good when antibiotics are administered early with a mortality rate of less than 10%. Due to its sensitivity to almost all antibiotics used for treating community-acquired pneumonia, the actual incidence of this pathogen as a causative agent for community-acquired pneumonia may be underestimated, since most patients diagnosed with community-acquired pneumonia are treated empirically. We describe an 84-year-old female who had a productive cough and malaise for 3days, and subsequently presented to the emergency department after a fall. She was found to have a right lower lobe infiltrate on chest-X ray, and levofloxacin was initiated for pneumonia. Admission blood cultures ultimately grew Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B, and the patient completely recovered following a change to ceftriaxone. The local department of health was notified, and her family members were given rifampin prophylaxis according to guidelines.

Keywords:

Neisseria meningitidis; Pneumonia

Citation:

Darwich NS, Starrett WG. Community-Acquired Pneumonia due to Neisseria meningitidis Serogroup B. Ann Infect Dis Epidemiol. 2019;4(1):1036.

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