PULLMAN– A 19-year-old male Washington State University student was diagnosed early Monday morning with probable meningococcal meningitis. He is currently being treated at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane.
The student lives off campus with two roommates, both of whom have received antibiotic medication against the disease. Health officials are contacting and treating other people believed to have had recent close contact with the student.
Dr. Bruce Wright, director of WSU Health and Wellness Services, said meningitis is the infectious inflammation of the tissues that cover the brain and spinal cord. Up to 10 percent of the population normally carry the bacterium that causes the disease in their nose and mouth without showing any disease symptoms. Only rarely does the bacterium penetrate in to the area of the brain to cause meningitis. This is more likely to happen when people’s immune systems are weakened because of factors like sleep deprivation or other illnesses.
Symptoms of meningitis include high fever, severe headache, stiff neck, rash, nausea, vomiting, lethargy and confusion; the disease may resemble a severe case of the flu. Because the disease progresses rapidly, often in as little as 12 hours, prompt diagnosis and treatment with intravenous antibiotics are important to ensuring recovery.
Meningococcal meningitis is not highly contagious and there is no threat to the general public, Wright said. However, individuals in close contact with someone diagnosed with this illness need to receive antibiotic treatment to reduce their risk of contracting the disease. Close contacts of a case are defined as roommates, housemates, family members, those who have shared eating, drinking, or smoking materials/utensils or those who have been in sexual contact with an individual with the disease within 10 days of diagnosis.
A vaccine is available for most strains of the illness, and health officials encourage college students, particularly those living in dense residential situations like residence halls and fraternities and sororities, to get vaccinated. For more information about the vaccine, please contact Health and Wellness Services at 509/335-3575 if you are a WSU student or contact your health care provider if you are not.
