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For the physician in charge, establishing a prognosis for meningococcal disease often presents a difficult challenge. In this respect, the excellent study by Barquet and colleagues¹ offers a clinical, rational, and novel approach to the problem. It constitutes a world first, dealing with the variables that independently allow prediction of the appearance of sequelae and confirmation of the independent factors predicting mortality in meningococcal disease, including cases without bacteriological confirmation. This was described in a previous study by this same group of researchers,² but covering only cases with bacteriological confirmation. Given that only exclusively clinical parameters, easily established at the patient's bedside, are considered in the more recent study,¹ laboratory determinations and complementary examinations are no longer needed to predict the evolution of meningococcal disease.

In the more recent study by Barquet et al,¹ lack of preadmission antibiotic therapy is the only factor a physician can control that is predictive . . . [Full Text of this Article]