Chronic meningococcaemia

Chronic meningococcaemia is a rare clinical manifestation of invasive infec tion by Neisseria meningitidis. The clinical signs and symptoms are recurre nt fever, skin rash, arthralgias and headache. This constellation is rather typical and may enable the clinician to establish the diagnosis. The clini cal diagnosis is confirmed by the growth of Neisseria meningitidis in the b lood culture. In addition, the clinical course under antibiotic treatment l eads to a dramatic improvement within 24-48 hours. Positive cultures may be obtained by needle aspiration or skin biopsy. There are a few reports on p atients with deficiency of late complement components or immunglobulin defi ciency. We report on two patients with the typical findings of chronic meningococca emia.