Chronic meningococcemia

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

“…The age of our patient was in agreement with the description made by Benoit [2]. This disease can indeed be found at all ages, but especially among adolescents and young adults.…”

“…This can involve all joints except the spine and temporomandibular joint. Our patient classically presented intermittent symptomatology but his status remained good, as described by Benoit [2]. Cutaneous involvement is classically maculopapular, non-purpuric and not specific.…”

“…Although chronic meningococcemia is characterized by a classic clinical triad associating prolonged fever, rash and arthralgia [2], our patient did not present with fever preceding his admission. The age of our patient was in agreement with the description made by Benoit [2].…”

“…Cutaneous involvement is classically maculopapular, non-purpuric and not specific. These macular lesions are frequently described in chronic meningococcemia and may affect up to 86% of patients [2,7]. As described by Dupin [4], the lesions result either from septic embolizations (acute form) or from immune complexes and C3 deposit in vascular walls (chronic form).…”

Value of a Novel Neisseria Meningitidis–Specific Polymerase Chain Reaction Assay in Skin Biopsy Specimens as a Diagnostic Tool in Chronic Meningococcemia

“…Most reports, including the first description, 4 underscore the potential prolonged course of the disease with a spontaneous relapsing evolution. Fever is almost constant, and arthralgias are frequent.…”