Violet Foundation Organisation

The historical aspects of meningococcal disease

1806: Gaspard Vieusseux a swiss physician first described cases of meningococcal disease in an outbreak in Geneva in 1806(1)(2)(3)

 

1884: Italian pathologists Marchiafava and Celli  described small round bacteria in the spinal fluid of patients dying from meningitis.(1)(2)

 

1887: Anton Weichselbaum, a Viennese physician isolated meningococcus from 6 cases of meningitis (1)(2)(3)

 

1906: Jochmann, a German physician demonstrated protection in a guinea pig by raising antisera in rabbits and horses. (3)

 

1913: Simon Flexnor conducts first human trials using meningococcal antiserum from horses. Mortality rate was reduced up to 30%. Previously, the mortality rate for untreated meningococcal disease was about 75-80%(1)(2)(3)

 

1919: Rolleston identified relation between respiratory viral infections and influenza during WW1(3)

 

1929: Fleming discovers penicillin.

 

1933: US Microbiologists Scherp and Rake distinguish encapsulated strains, proving capsule was composed of polysaccharide(4). This paved the way for polysaccharide vaccines.

 

1937: Schwentker treated meningococcal meningitis with sulphanilamide. The first specific and highly effective treatment. (3)(5)

 

1939: Howard Florey begins to work on medicinal usage of penicillin. First human trial failed.

 

1940: Sulphanilamide found to clear nasopharyngeal carriage making chemoprophylaxis possible (3)

 

1941: Percival Landon Bazeley an Australian war hero begins work to produce independent supply of penicillin. (7)

 

1942: First patient treated for septicaemia successfully.(6)

 

1943: Australia becomes the first country in the world to provide penicillin to its civilians.

 

1969: Gotschlich et al, development and testing of the first polysaccharide vaccine (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)

 

1991: First report of polymerase chain reaction test for diagnosis (9)(13)

 

1992: A new paediatric intensive care unit specialising in meningococcal disease opens at St Mary’s Hospital London. Robert Booy et al reduce the case fatality rate year on year from 23% in 1992/93 to 2% in 1997 despite disease severity remaining relatively unchanged.(14)

2006: Thompson MJ et al publish the first comprehensive description of the time course of the clinical features of meningococcal disease in children and adolescents before admission to the hospital. (15)

 

 

 

(1)     Manchanda V, Gupta S, Bhalla P. Meningococcal disease: History, epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, antimicrobial susceptibility and prevention. Indian J Med Microbiol 2006;24:7-19

(2)     Handbook of Meningococcal Disease: Infection Biology, Vaccination, Clinical Management: Matthias Frosch, Martin C. J. Maiden: Wiley-VCH, 2006:1:.1

(3)    Alexandre Leite de Souza and Antonio Carlos Seguro
Two centuries of meningococcal infection: from Vieusseux to the cellular and molecular basis of disease
J. Med. Microbiol. 2008 57: 1313-1321.

(4)    Scherp H, Rake G 1935. Studies on meningococcus infection, VIII. The type 1specific substance, J. Exp. Med. 61,753-769

(5)    Schwentker FF 1937, Treatment of meningococcal meningitis with sulphanilamide, J.Pediatr: 11,874-880

(6)    The First Use of Penicillin in the United States, by Charles M. Grossman. Annals of Internal Medicine 15 July 2008: Volume 149, Issue 2, Pages 135-136.

(7)     http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-heroes/bazeley.htm

 

(8 )  Goldschneider I, Gotschlich EC, Artenstein MS 1969, Human immunity to the meningococcus, I, The role of humoral antibodies, J. Exp. Med. 129, 1307–1326.

 

(9)   Goldschneider I, Gotschlich EC, Artenstein MS 1969, Human immunity to the meningococcus, I, The role of humoral antibodies, J.Exp.Med.129,1307–1326.

 

(10) Goldschneider I, Gotschlich EC, Artenstein MS 1969, Human immunity to the meningococcus, II, Development of natural immunity, J. Exp. Med.129, 1327–1348.

 

(11)  Gotschlich EC, The Yung Liu, Artenstein MS 1969, Human immunity to the meningococcus, III, Preparation and immunochemical properties of the group A, group B and group C meningococcal polysaccharides, J. Exp. Med. 129, 1349–1365.

       

(12) Gotschlich EC, Goldschneider I, Artenstein MS 1969, Human immunity to the meningococcus, IV, Immunogenicity of group A and group C meningococcal polysaccharides in human volunteers, J. Exp. Med. 129, 1367–1384.

 

(13) Kristiansen B, Kristiansen B E, Ask, E, Jenkins A, et al. 1991, Rapid diagnosis of meningococcal meningitis by polymerase chain reaction, Lancet 337, 1568–1569.

 (14) R Booy, P Habibi, S Nadel, C de Munter, J Britto, A Morrison, M Levin, and t. M. Group; Reduction in case fatality rate from meningococcal disease associated with improved healthcare delivery;Arch Dis Child. 2001 November; 85(5): 386–390. doi: 10.1136/adc.85.5.386.

(15) Clinical Recognition of Meningococcal Disease in Children and Adolescents: Thompson MJ, Ninis N, Perera R
Lancet: vol. 367, 397 - 403, 2006