Bacterium
Neisseria meningitidis
Gram-negative diplococci
nye-SEER-ee-uh meh-nin-JIT-ih-dis
High-yield clue
Gram-negative diplococci + oxidase positive + capsule is the recognition pattern.
Overview
A Gram-negative diplococcus linked to oxidase positivity, capsule concepts, and meningitis/outbreak vocabulary in educational cases.
Classification
- Gram-negative
- Diplococci
- Oxidase positive
Lab & identification clues
- Oxidase positive
- Chocolate agar vocabulary
- Capsule is high-yield
Associations
- Meningitis vocabulary
- Petechial rash clue in educational cases
- Vaccine/public-health concepts
Commonly confused with
- Neisseria gonorrhoeae
- Streptococcus pneumoniae
Your notes
Original student-study summary. Sources checked: OpenStax Microbiology 2e, NCBI Bookshelf Medical Microbiology, and CDC topic pages where applicable; reviewed 2026-06. Educational only; no diagnosis, treatment, dosing, or specimen-handling guidance.