Meningococcal disease in one soldier patient: case report from Vietnam

Nguyen Thanh Viet¹, Nguyen Minh Nam², Nguyen Vu Trung², Do Tuan Anh^2*, Hoang Van Tong^{1, 3*}

¹Institute of Biomedicine and Pharmacy, Vietnam Military Medical University, Vietnam

²103 Military Hospital, Vietnam Military Medical University, Vietnam

³Departments of Pathophysiology, Vietnam Military Medical University, Vietnam

Received 1 October 2020; accepted 23 December 2020

 

Abstract:

Meningococcal disease is caused by an infection with Neisseria meningitidis (N. meningitidis) bacteria, which is responsible for two major forms of the disease including meningitis and/or septicaemia. N. meningitidis remains a significant cause of an endemic and leads to significant morbidity and mortality. Diagnosis of meningococcal disease may be challenging due to clinical signs that vary widely and are often similar to those of other illnesses. Meningococcal disease persists in Vietnamese military populations despite the availability of antibiotics and vaccines. The rate of meningococcal disease in Vietnam is low and no meningococcal sepsis case has yet been reported from Vietnam. Herein, we describe the first meningococcal sepsis case in a Vietnamese military unit and emphasize the beneficial application of a molecular method in the diagnosis of N. meningitidis and the successful use of antibiotic treatment.

Keywords: meningitis, meningococcal disease, Neisseria meningitidis, sepsis.

Classification number: 3.2