FULMINATING MENINGOCOCCEMIA WITH VASCULAR COLLAPSE (WATERHOUSE-FRIDERICHSEN SYNDROME): Report on Four Adult Patients Who Recovered

NUMEROUS reports during the past two years indicated that the dramatic syndrome of fulminating meningococcic septicemia complicated by severe vascular collapse and widespread purpuric lesions involving the skin and almost any organ, including the adrenal glands, is being more frequently recognized ante mortem. Thomas and Leiphart, 1 in a publication appearing in July 1944, stated: "At the present time almost 150 cases have been reported, the vast majority in infants and young children. A careful search of the literature has revealed only 19 instances in adults." They reported 2 additional fatal cases in which the patients were adults. Prior to the advent of sulfonamide compounds the syndrome was considered universally fatal. In a report appearing in January 1945, Weinberg and McGavack 2 stated that recovery had been reported in only 11 cases of the Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome, and they added 1 case in which the patient recovered. A meningococcus was grown