Symptoms are usually nonspecific. A child may present with a short prodrome of fever, chills, and other complaints such as malaise, myalgias, sore throat, headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and/or abdominal pain. He or she initially may appear nontoxic, but then rapidly progress to a more classical septic picture, with respiratory distress, cardiovascular instability, disseminated intravascular coagulation, purpura fulminans, hypoglycemia, or coma within hours of presentation.2,3,11–15 In many cases, there is no identifiable focus of infection. When a defined infectious focus is found, meningitis and pneumonia are common.1,13