Meningococcal disease or Invasive Meningococcal Disease (IMD) commonly presents as meningitis, septicaemia or a combination of both (1)
Meningococcal disease in its initial stages may present with non specific clinical features such as malaise, pyrexia, vomiting, lethargy and headaches (2)
The following features in an ill child should prompt the diagnosis of IMD:
It is important for health professionals not to automatically excludethe possibility of meningococcal infection in a young child presenting with non specific symptoms such as vomiting, pyrexia, lethargy poor feeding,non-blanching rash, irritability and if still patent, raised anterior fontanelle tension within the first four to six hours of illness (2)
In meningococcal septicaemia, a rash may develop along with signs of advancing shock and isolated limb and/or joint pain. The rash may be non-specific early on but as the disease progresses the rash may become petechial or purpuric and may not blanch
NICE suggest that, in a child less than 5 years, one should consider the disease if:
Reference:
Add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation, such as a web address or phone number. This information will always be displayed when you visit this page