Meningococcal Disease Awareness: Clinical and Epidemiological Factors Affecting Prevention and Management in Adolescents

Nonspecificity of early symptoms makes meningococcal disease difficult to distinguish from more common, primarily self-limited infections. Patients rapidly progress to death despite medical intervention if early shock and/or disseminated intravascular coagulopathy are already present. Although overall incidence of and mortality from meningococcal disease is lower in adolescents than in infants, the case fatality rate is higher, making this population a critical target for prevention.