Meningococcemia natural history, complications and prognosis

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-In-Chief: Cafer Zorkun, M.D., Ph.D. [2]

Complications

Patients who do not develop meningitis also tend to have a poorer outcome.

• Arthritis
• Disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC)
• Gangrene due to lack of blood supply
  • In cases of serious infection, sufferers may have to have limbs amputated as infected flesh dies off and may otherwise spread gangrene.
• Inflammation of blood vessels in the skin (cutaneous vasculitis)
• Myocarditis
• Pericarditis
• Shock
• Severe damage to adrenal glands that can lead to low blood pressure (Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome)

Prognosis

Early treatment results in a good outcome. When shock develops, the outcome is less certain. The condition is most life threatening in those who have:

• Disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC) - a severe bleeding disorder
• Kidney failure
• Shock

References

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