Disseminated gonococcal infection in elderly patients.

To the Editor. —We have read the article by Petronella et al, entitled "Disseminated Gonococcal Infection in Elderly Patients," 1 with great interest. We think it important to make the following observations. Disseminated gonococcal infection (DGI), although a more frequent disease among people less than 40 years of age, can appear at any age, including in elderly patients. This is not a new fact, as assured by the authors, since Jacobs 2 published an article in 1962 describing a 62-year-old widow with arthritis in her left knee, in whom Neisseriagonorrhoeae was cultivated. In this article a reference to the literature is made where the relationship between DGI and age is discussed. Jacobs concludes that the physician needs to suspect DGI in patients of any age. In 1984, we published an article describing six patients who were diagnosed as having DGI for a period of 18 months. This study was carried