Question:medium
Identify the following image.
Identify the following image.
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Gram-negative coffee-bean diplococci of the meningococcus genus, the encapsulated meningitis-causing species.
Updated On: Jun 23, 2026
- Neisseria meningitidis
- Neisseria cinerea
- Neisseria gonorrhoeae
- Neisseria polysaccharea
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The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
Recognise the genus from the smear: paired Gram-negative cocci with adjacent flattened faces giving a kidney-bean or coffee-bean look are Neisseria. All four options are Neisseria species, so the question is really which one is being highlighted.
Two are pathogens (meningitidis, gonorrhoeae) and two are commensals (cinerea, polysaccharea), letting you drop options (b) and (d) at once. Between the pathogens, Neisseria meningitidis is the encapsulated, fastidious aerobic diplococcus causing meningitis and fulminant meningococcemia, classically seen as intracellular bean-shaped pairs inside neutrophils in CSF.
Following the marked meningococcal context, the answer is option (a), Neisseria meningitidis.
Two are pathogens (meningitidis, gonorrhoeae) and two are commensals (cinerea, polysaccharea), letting you drop options (b) and (d) at once. Between the pathogens, Neisseria meningitidis is the encapsulated, fastidious aerobic diplococcus causing meningitis and fulminant meningococcemia, classically seen as intracellular bean-shaped pairs inside neutrophils in CSF.
Following the marked meningococcal context, the answer is option (a), Neisseria meningitidis.
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