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Rare disease
CASE REPORT
Primary meningococcal septic arthritis with multiple native joint involvement
  1. Connor Boyle1,2,
  2. Thomas Howard2,
  3. David Griffith3,
  4. Jonathan Cowie2
  1. 1Division of Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
  2. 2Department of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, NHS Fife, Kirkcaldy, UK
  3. 3Department of Microbiology, NHS Fife, Kirkcaldy, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Connor Boyle, connorboyle{at}doctors.org.uk

Summary

A previously healthy 18-year-old woman presented with an acutely painful, swollen right ankle joint, with similar symptoms subsequently developing in the right hip and right wrist. Microbiological samples from the ankle aspirate grew Neisseria meningitidis. She had had no preceding clinical symptoms of meningitis or previous contact with a patient with meningitis. She was treated with intravenous antibiotics and surgical drainage.

On follow-up, her symptoms had resolved, inflammatory markers had returned to normal and she has no long-term sequelae of septic arthritis. Primary meningococcal septic arthritis in the adult population is extremely uncommon, and makes up approximately 1% of all cases of primary septic arthritis.

  • musculoskeletal and joint disorders
  • orthopaedic and trauma surgery
  • bone and joint infections
  • infections

https://doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2017-223197

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors CB, TH, DG and JC were all involved in the clinical management of the patient. DG identified the case as worth sharing. CB and DG were involved in the conception of the article and literature search. CB was responsible for the drafting of the article, with all authors responsible for the subsequent revision of the article and approval of the submitted draft.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent Obtained.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.