Allertic complications of meningococcal disease. I. Clinical aspects.

Out of 717 patients with meningococcal disease 53 showed one or more of the three allergic complications: 47 (6.6%) developed arthritis, 12 (1.7%) developed cutaneous vasculitis, and 6 developed episcleritis. These complications, which were often multiple, occurred six to nine days after the beginning of the illness and three to six days after the start of successful antibiotic therapy. Those patients with severe systemic disease were prone to the complications.Histological and bacteriological study of the arthritis and vasculitis showed that these lesions were probably not due to persisting infection and suggested that they might be due to immune complex disease.