Meningococcal disease – United States

After eating leftover food in his fridge, which triggered a potentially deadly disease, a 19-year-old student had to get both of his legs and and all ten fingers amputated in the USA.

His pain first started 20 hours before he was admitted to the paediatric intensive care centre (PICU) and shortly after he ate leftovers from a restaurant. The patient suffered from fever, high blood pressure, pale skin, and abnormal breathing and a subsequent drop of his blood pressure. A rash containing small spots appeared on his skin all over his body, which then started to appear reddisch brown, red defined at the edges.
The patient was diagnosed with Neisseria meningitidis, which caused his stiff neck, nausea, respiratory collapse, shock, and multiorgan failure.

The infections on the patient’s body were so severe that he had to have all 10 of his fingers and both of his legs amputated.
The doctors discovered that the patient did not receive the recommended booster for the meningococcal vaccine.Neisseria meningitidis, often referred to as meningococcus, is a bacterium that can cause meningitis and other forms of meningococcal disease such as meningococcemia, a life-threatening sepsis.

About 10% of adults are carriers of the bacteria in their nasopharynx. It is an exclusively human pathogen it is the main cause of bacterial meningitis in children and young adults, causing developmental impairment and death in about 10% of cases.

It causes the only form of bacterial meningitis known to occur epidemically, mainly in Africa and Asia. It occurs worldwide in both epidemic and endemic form.

It is spread through saliva and respiratory secretions during coughing, sneezing, kissing, chewing on toys and even through sharing a source of fresh water.