Chronic meningococcemia presenting with recurrent painful rash and poly-arthralgia without fever

• Published in: IDCases Vol. 14; p. e00416
• Main Authors: Delwaide, C., De Leeuw, P., François, A., Beckers, P., Hennaux, V., Lefèvre, Ph
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2018; Elsevier Limited; Elsevier
• Subjects: Chronic meningococcemia; Human health sciences; Laboratory medicine & medical technology; Médecine de laboratoire & technologie médicale; Neisseria meningitidis; PCR; Sciences de la santé humaine; Neisseria meningitidis; PCR; Chronic meningococcemia
• ISSN: 2214-2509; 2214-2509
• DOI: 10.1016/j.idcr.2018.e00416

•Chronic meningococcemia is an uncommon disorder, representing diagnosis challenge.•Routine microbiological investigations frequently failed to identify incriminated micro-organism, Neisseria meningitidis.•Early diagnosis of chronic meningococcemia is crucial to avoid complications.•PCR technic has been proved highly precious for early diagnosis of chronic meningococcemia. Chronic meningococcemia is an uncommon disorder, representing a diagnostic challenge. Classically, this pathology would be considered in young adults with a history of episodes of fever, disseminated cutaneous vasculitis and arthralgia. Exact and rapid diagnosis is often further challenged by the fact that routine microbiological investigations frequently failed to identify incriminated micro-organism, Neisseria meningitidis. Here we present the case of a young man not presenting with the classical triad.