Haemophilus influenzae meningitis and Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome in an adult.

An otherwise healthy 36-year-old man had abdominal pain, vomiting, sepsis, and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). Negative exploratory laparotomy was shortly followed by death. Autopsy showed Haemophilus influenzae (type B) meningitis, multiple organ involvement with DIC, and bilateral adrenal hemorrhagic necrosis (Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome). This patient is the fourth reported adult with H influenzae meningitis and hemorrhagic infarction of the adrenals, and the first such patient with an apparent abdominal catastrophe.