Primary meningococcal arthritis in a prosthetic knee joint

Neisseria meningitidis is known to cause a spectrum of diseases, including bacteraemia without sepsis, meningococcaemia without meningitis, meningitis with or without meningococcaemia, and chronic meningococcaemia. Less commo n manifestations of meningococcal infection include pharyngitis, pneumonia, pericarditis, urethritis and arthritis. To our knowledge, there have been no previous reports of N. meningitidis causing prosthetic joint infection. Herein, we report a case of primary meningococcal arthritis in a woman with a prosthetic knee joint. After surgical drainage the prosthesis was retain ed and the patient received appropriate and prolonged antibiotic treatment. The outcome was favourable, as with primary meningococcal arthritis affect ing native joints. (C) 2001 The British Infection Society.