The Orthopaedic Consequences of Childhood Meningococcal Septicaemia

Meningococcal septicaemia is caused by the Gram-negative diplococcus, Neisseria meningitides. The bacterium is found exclusively in humans, existing as a commensal in the nasopharynx and transmitted by respiratory secretions. Meningoccoal septicaemia is the most severe form of meningococcal infection and is the most common infective cause of death in children. 

Differing hospital settings, patient populations and disease presentations make generalising mortality rates following meningococcal septicaemia difficult to calculate. There has however been an overall decline in the death rate, with earlier studies reporting a rate of 18-53%, while more recent estimates are as low as 5%. Improved treatment protocols and centralisation of paediatric intensive care is thought to have had a major effect. Read more>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>