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Volume 23, Number 7—July 2017
Etymologia

Etymologia: Meningococcal Disease

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Meningococcal [mə-ningʺgo-kokʹal] Disease

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Thumbnail of Areas with frequent epidemics of meningococcal meningitis. Data source:  World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, 2012.

Figure. Areas with frequent epidemics of meningococcal meningitis. Data source:  World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, 2012.

From the Greek meninx (“membrane”) + kokkos (“berry”), meningococcal disease was first described by Vieusseux during an outbreak in Geneva in 1805. In 1884, Italian pathologists Ettore Marchiafava and Angelo Celli described intracellular micrococci in cerebrospinal fluid, and in 1887, Anton Wiechselbaum identified the meningococcus (designated as Diplococcus intracellularis meningitidis) in cerebrospinal fluid and established the connection between the organism and epidemic meningitis. Meningococcus can cause endemic cases, clusters, and epidemics of meningitis and septicemia (Figure).

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References

  1. Apicella  MA. Neisseria meningitidis. In: Mandell GL, Bennett, JE, Dolin R, editors. Mandell, Douglas, and Bennett’s Principles and Practice of Infectious Disease. 7th edition. Philadelphia: Elsevier; 2010. p. 2737–52.
  2. Manchanda  V, Gupta  S, Bhalla  P. Meningococcal disease: history, epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, antimicrobial susceptibility and prevention. Indian J Med Microbiol. 2006;24:719. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  3. Stephens  DS. Biology and pathogenesis of the evolutionarily successful, obligate human bacterium Neisseria meningitidis. Vaccine. 2009;27(Suppl 2):B717. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar

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Cite This Article

DOI: 10.3201/eid2307.et2307

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Table of Contents – Volume 23, Number 7—July 2017

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Ronnie Henry, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd NE, Mailstop E03, Atlanta, GA 30329-4027, USA

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Page created: June 19, 2017
Page updated: June 19, 2017
Page reviewed: June 19, 2017
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
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