[Prolonged fever in an adolescent with a positive blood culture : is it a chronic meningococcemia ?]

Abstract

We report the case of a 15-year old boy admitted for febrile episodes lasting over 4 months without any other clinical signs. On the basis of a positive blood culture, chronic Neisseria meningitidis bacteremia, without associated meningitis, was highly suspected. Further work-up revealed no immunosuppression or terminal complement deficiency. A 7-day intravenous treatment of ceftriaxone resulted in complete recovery. This case highlights chronic Neisseria meningitidis as a rarely encountered pathology and describes an atypical presentation, compared with descriptions in the literature.