Table 1

Confirmed

Isolation of Neisseria meningitidis from a usually sterile site including:

Blood

Cerebrospinal fluid

Synovial joint fluid

Pleural fluid

Pericardial fluid

Petechial or purpuric lesion (skin rash)

Presumptive

Gram-negative diplococcal organisms visualized by microscopy in any sterile fluid, such as cerebrospinal fluid, synovial fluid, or aspirate from a petechial or purpuric skin lesion

Probable

Positive antigen test for N. meningitidis in cerebrospinal fluid in the absence of a positive sterile site culture in the setting of a clinical illness consistent with meningococcal disease or clinical purpura fulminans in the absence of a positive blood culture.

Modified from American Academy of Pediatrics. Meningococcal infections. In Pickering LK, ed. 2000 Red Book: Report on the Committee on Infectious Diseases, 25th edition. Elk Grove Village, IL: American Academy of Pediatrics, 2000, p.396-401.



Confirmed
	Isolation of Neisseria meningitidis from a usually sterile site including:
		Blood
		Cerebrospinal fluid
		Synovial joint fluid
		Pleural fluid
		Pericardial fluid
		Petechial or purpuric lesion (skin rash)
Presumptive
	Gram-negative diplococcal organisms visualized by microscopy in any sterile fluid, such as cerebrospinal fluid, synovial fluid, or aspirate from a petechial or purpuric skin lesion
Probable
	Positive antigen test for N. meningitidis in cerebrospinal fluid in the absence of a positive sterile site culture in the setting of a clinical illness consistent with meningococcal disease or clinical purpura fulminans in the absence of a positive blood culture.

Modified from American Academy of Pediatrics. Meningococcal infections. In Pickering LK, ed. 2000 Red Book: Report on the Committee on Infectious Diseases, 25th edition. Elk Grove Village, IL: American Academy of Pediatrics, 2000, p.396-401.