Criteria
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention case classification[1]
A case is confirmed by:
Detection of Neisseria meningitidis-specific nucleic acid (using a validated polymerase chain reaction assay) in a specimen obtained from a normally sterile site (e.g., blood or cerebrospinal fluid); or
Isolation of N meningitidis from a normally sterile site or from purpuric lesions.
Probable cases include those where N meningitidis antigen is detected by:
Immunohistochemical staining on formalin-fixed tissue, or
In cerebrospinal fluid by latex agglutination.
Suspected cases include those with:
Clinical purpura fulminans in the absence of an N meningitidis positive blood culture, or
Gram-negative diplococci, not yet identified, isolated from a normally sterile site.
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