Meningitis: a rare but dangerous disease for students

Meningococcal meningitis is an uncommon disease, yet it affects college students at seven times the national average, and dorm residents are encouraged to be immunized.

The infection, which causes inflammation of the brain, can be deadly. Of those who contract it, there is a 10 to 15 percent mortality rate. Otherwise, serious debilitation is a possibility.

“Out of all the people in the United States who get meningitis and live, about 25 percent lose an arm or leg, become mentally retarded, or experience seizures,” said Jean Haulman, associate medical director of public health and immunization at Hall Health.

About one in every 100,000 people contracts the disease.

“There haven’t been any cases at UW in the four years I’ve been at Hall Health immunization — but if you get it, it has a high mortality rate and is dangerous,” she said.

The vaccine available in the United States is effective against four of the five types of meningitis. Among them, the B-strain is the most rare. Cuba has a vaccine for it, available since the 1980s, according to the BBC, yet no such vaccine is available in the United States because of the Cuban embargo, a ban on trade with the country.

Hall Health has Menactra, a vaccine available since 2005, which protects against the disease for up to 10 years, Haulman said.

Another vaccine, Menomune, is effective for five years. Both vaccines protect about 90 percent of those immunized and are made available to most young people through a federal program called Vaccines for Children (VFC). The program provides certain vaccines, including the one for meningitis, for free for all children up to age 19. Established in 1993, VFC is funded by both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state.

“The longevity of the new vaccine, along with the Vaccines for Children Program are … [leading to] more students coming to college already immunized,” Haulman said.

There is also heightened awareness about meningitis, said Jill Appel, nurse manager at Hall Health.

“The media hype around meningitis has also contributed to [getting] vaccines done [at an] earlier age. It’s also becoming standard among pediatric immunizations,” she said.

Thirty-five vaccinations have been given at Hall Health to people 19 and older in the past six months, Appel said. Most immunizations are provided during fall quarter, though students can take advantage of the program before the fall, Haulman said.

If a student is infected, Haulman must inform the campus community.

“We usually send out campus-wide e-mails,” she said. “With something like this, however, we would probably focus on students who were in close proximity to, or intimately involved with, the person infected.”

Symptoms may seem innocuous at first: a stiff neck, rash and high fever. However, Haulman said, “People can feel ok, but can get really sick quickly.”

If someone has these symptoms and starts feeling confused, they should immediately seek medical attention, she said.

[Reach reporter Chris Paredes at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]