Penicillin-resistant Neisseria meningitidis and pandemic 2009 H1N1 influenza coinfection in a child.

To the Editors: During the spring of 2009, a pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus emerged and spread globally. Reports of coinfection between the 2009 H1N1 virus and bacterial pathogens were recently published, the most common being Streptococcus pneumoniae, Streptococcus pyogenes, Haemophilus influenzae, and Staphylococcus aureus including methicillin-resistant S. aureus. Although coinfection between seasonal influenza viruses and Neisseria meningitidis was reported in the past, we could not find such a report for 2009 H1N1. We recently cared for a young child from northern Israel who presented with meningococcemia, meningitis, peritonitis, and mesenteric lymphadenitis caused by a penicillin-resistant N. meningitidis isolate. The child had a coinfection with pandemic 2009 H1N1 influenza.

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