Rapidly fatal pneumococcal septicemia in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Streptococcal pneumoniae septicemia was responsible for the deaths of 3 patients with chronic systemic lupus erythematosus. The absence of a spleen likely contributed to sepsis in 2 patients. One patient had been immunized with 14-valent pneumococcal vaccine with a doubling of serum antibody concentrations at one month to all vaccine capsular polysaccharide types except for Types 1 and 12. The patient died 74 months after immunization of pneumococcal Type 1 sepsis.