Meningococcemia historical perspective

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1] ; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Ammu Susheela, M.D. [2]

Historical Perspective

• Records indicate that the first case of meningococcal meningitis was described in Geneva in 1805.
• Another case was reported in New England , New Bedford , Massachusetts in 1806.
• The causative agent was described as intracellular oval cocci in a cerebrospinal fluid sample by Marchiafava and Celli in 1884.
• The organism was isolated by Anton Weischselbaum in 1887 and he gave the term Diplococcus intracellularis meningitidis.
• From then on for more than 2 hundred years, meningococcus has caused high rates of morbidity and mortality all around the world.
• No reports of outbreaks have been reported prior to 1806.
• The first meningococcal epidemics occured in early 1900s in sub saharan Africa.