Waterhouse–Friderichsen syndrome
adrenal gland disease that is characterized by failure of the adrenal gland due to bleeding into the gland
Waterhouse–Friderichsen syndrome (WFS) is defined as adrenal gland failure due to hemorrhages in the adrenal glands, commonly caused by sepsis. Typically, the bacteria responsible for triggering the bleeding is Neisseria meningitidis.
The bacterial infection leads to massive bleeding into one or both adrenal glands. Bilateral adrenal gland hemorrhaging is more common. It is characterized by overwhelming bacterial infection meningococcemia leading to massive blood invasion, organ failure, coma, low blood pressure and shock, disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) with widespread purpura, rapidly developing adrenocortical insufficiency and death.
Signs and symptoms
Waterhouse–Friderichsen syndrome can be caused by a number of different organisms (see below). When caused by Neisseria meningitidis, WFS is considered the most severe form of meningococcal sepsis. The onset of the illness is nonspecific with fever, rigors, vomiting, and headache. Soon a rash appears; first macular, not much different from the rose spots of typhoid, and rapidly becoming petechial and purpuric with a dusky gray color. Low blood pressure (hypotension) develops and rapidly leads to septic shock.
The public source identifies “Waterhouse–Friderichsen syndrome” as adrenal gland disease that is characterized by failure of the adrenal gland due to bleeding into the gland. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Waterhouse, Friderichsen and syndrome.
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This entry incorporates text from “Waterhouse–Friderichsen syndrome” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.