MENINGOCOCCUS ENDOCARDITIS, WITH SEPTICEMIA

Meningococcus septicemia was first reported by Gwyn 1 in 1899. The case was one of epidemic meningitis complicated by acute arthritis. The meningococcus was isolated from the spinal fluid, synovial fluid, and the blood. Cochez and Lemaire 2 in 1901 were able to demonstrate the meningococcus in the blood of two meningitis patients. Jakobitz, 3 Martini and Rohde, 4 Lenhartz, 5 Marcovitch, 6 Robinson, 7 and Duval 8 have since made similar reports, the septicemia in all these cases being associated with meningitis. Elser, 9 examining the blood in forty-one cases of cerebrospinal meningitis, found the meningococcus in ten, or about 25 per cent. It has been observed that in most instances where the meningococcus has been found in the circulating blood, the disease has been fatal, and some form of extrameningeal lesion has been present. The endothelial-lined cavities, such as the joints, pleura, pericardium and endocardium have been the sites of these complicating