Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 May 29;21(1):499.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-021-06211-7.

Primary meningococcal arthritis in a COVID-19 18-year-old man: a case report and review of the literature

Norman Ducatez  1 , Marine Chancel  2 , Youcef Douadi  3 , Charles Dayen  3 , Rémi Suguenot  3 , Emmanuelle Lecuyer  3 , Benoit Brihaye  2 , Houcine Bentayeb  3
Affiliations
Review

Primary meningococcal arthritis in a COVID-19 18-year-old man: a case report and review of the literature

Norman Ducatez et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) infection is associated with various complications. PMA (primary meningococcal arthritis) is a rare meningococcus-associated disease causing arthritis of the knee usually, without any signs of invasive meningococcal disease. No case of PMA in a COVID-19 (coronavirus disease, 2019) patient has yet been described. PMA mainly strikes young adults. PMA is not associated with any immunocompromising condition. It has a better outcome than usual septic arthritis CASE PRESENTATION: Herein, we report an 18-year-old man diagnosed with COVID-19, later admitted with persistent fever, right knee arthralgia and maculopapular rash. Due to family history, psoriasis and Henoch-Schönlein purpura were hypothesized and ruled out. Finally, synovial fluid culture confirmed Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B arthritis without any other symptoms of invasive meningococcal disease. Healing was achieved quickly with surgery and antibiotics. We concluded in a PMA.

Conclusion: We describe here the first primary meningococcal arthritis in a COVID-19 patient and we hope to shine a light on this rare but serious complication.

Keywords: Arthritis; COVID-19; Neisseria meningitidis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

References

    1. Stinson C, Burman C, Presa J, Abalos M. Atypical presentation of invasive meningococcal disease caused by serogroup W meningococci. Epidemiol Infect. 2020;148:e12. 10.1017/S0950268819002152 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Barahona M, Catalan J, Sato Y, Hinzpeter J. Primary meningococcal type C arthritis: a case report and literature review. Case Rep Orthop. 2017;2017:4696014–4696013. doi: 10.1155/2017/4696014. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gómez BO, Feito CR, Vázquez DG-G, Vega MG, García Viejo MÁ. Primary meningococcal septic arthritis case report and literature review of an unusual manifestation of meningococcal disease. Bull Hosp Jt Dis (2013) 2019;77:140–145. - PubMed
    1. Prista-Leão B, Almeida F, Carvalho AC, Silva S, Sarmento A. Chronic meningococcemia. IDCases. 2019;15:e00502. doi: 10.1016/j.idcr.2019.e00502. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lavoipierre V, Dellyes A, Aubry C, Zandotti C, Lafforgue P, Parola P, et al. Acute polyarthritis in a young patient caused by meningococcal and parvovirus B19 infections: a case report and review of the literature. J Med Case Rep. 2016;10(1):362. 10.1186/s13256-016-1156-4. - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms

Substances