Neisseria meningitidis: fifteen cases of bronchopulmonary infections associated with septicaemia.

From 1989 to 1995, 4,053 meningococcal strains with a clinical information form were sent to the National Reference Center for Meningococci (NRCM). Among these strains 569 meningococci (14.04%) were isolated from secretions of the bronchopulmonary tract by expectoration or fibroscopy protected or not from contamination by microflora. Fifteen observations associated an infection of bronchopulmonary syndrome and a meningococcemia without any other symptoms. These patients were in general elderly (mean = 71.3 years old) except for two cases: one of them presented sickle cell anemia and the other was very young (13 months). In all cases, there were signs of clinical and X-ray pneumopathies. Among the fifteen cases described, eight cases occurred during the winter, and four during the spring. Twelve were described in countries north of the Loire. Serogroup Y was isolated six times, serogroup B four times and serogroup C three times. The small quantity of cases did not permit us to study the distribution of serotype and serosubtype. Three patients, aged 92, 86 and 74 years old, died from the meningococcal infection.