Notes from the Field: Meningococcal Disease in an International Traveler on Eculizumab Therapy - United States, 2015.

On June 2, 2015, CDC was notified that a male airline passenger, aged 41 years, with a fever of 105.4°F, headache, nausea, photophobia, diarrhea, and vomiting, which began approximately 3 hours after departure, was arriving to San Francisco, California, on a flight from Frankfurt, Germany. His symptoms reportedly started with neck stiffness 1 day earlier. Upon arrival, the patient was immediately transported to a local hospital, where he was in septic shock, which was followed by multisystem organ failure. Cerebrospinal fluid, obtained approximately 12 hours after initiation of treatment, was Gram stain- and culture-negative. Blood cultures, which were drawn before antibiotic treatment, were positive for Neisseria meningitides of indeterminate serogroup. A review of the patient's medical records revealed a history of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria and current biweekly eculizumab (Soliris) therapy.