Clinical and experimental immunology
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Clin. Exp. Immunol. · Jan 1980
Case ReportsRecurrent meningococcal infections associated with a functional deficiency of the C8 component of human complement.
A patient is described who had a functional deficiency of the C8 complement component. His serum contained abnormal C8 which lacked some of the antigenic determinants of normal C8. ⋯ However, the serum was bactericidal only after the addition of C8-containing serum. As the patient did not give a history of susceptibility to other pyogenic organisms and has normal polymorph function, the circumstances of meningococcal infection must be unusual in that the plasma bactericidal activity critically determines the outcome: it may be that if large numbers of meningococci are not killed in the plasma, the polymorphs are overwhelmed.