Colleges deal with meningitis threat

When students at Pittsburgh State University return to campus this week after winter break, they'll be encouraged to quickly roll up their shirt sleeves.\nAnd get a meningitis vaccination.\nThe vaccine clinic Thursday comes after two students were diagnosed last month with the infectious disease. The students, who were never publicly identified, have recovered and suffered no long-lasting effects, university officials report.\nMeningitis strikes about 2,500 Americans each year, leading to death in about 10 percent to 15 percent of cases. Anywhere from 100 to 125 cases pop up annually on college campuses, and five to 15 students die as a result, according to federal health officials.\nThough cases on college campuses are rare, health officials have cautioned for years students living in groups, such as residence halls, run a higher risk than the general population of contracting the disease.\nMeningococcal disease, or meningitis, can cause either an inflammation of the membranes around the brain and spinal cord, or a serious infection of the blood. It is spread by direct contact with someone infected by the disease -- coughing, sneezing, sharing saliva, sharing food and utensils, kissing or smoking the same cigarette.\nAdd to that a student's immune system compromised by all-night study sessions, drinking and stress, and the risks become clear.\nThe symptoms are very similar to the flu -- fever, headache, neck stiffness, nausea, vomiting -- and can easily be misdiagnosed, or even ignored by the infected person. To make matters worse, cases of meningitis tend to peak in late winter and early spring, often coinciding with the flu season.\nA Northwest Missouri State University freshman died of meningitis two years ago. Because of this, last summer, Missouri legislators passed a law requiring all students who live in campus housing to sign a written waiver saying their school has provided them detailed information about the risks of the disease and availability of the vaccine.\nThe new law takes effect this fall, when thousands of Missouri college parents will have to decide to get their child vaccinated, or not. Research shows up to 80 percent of college cases can be prevented by the vaccine, according to federal health officials. The disease most often strikes people ages 15 to 24.\nThe vaccine is not cheap. It can cost anywhere from $60 to $90 -- four or five times more than the cost of a routine flu shot. And some insurance policies don't cover the cost. For this reason, some students might not get the shot. This week at Pittsburgh State, students will be allowed to charge the shot to their university account and pay it off in installments.\nThe vaccine is effective against four of the five of the most common strains of the disease in the United States, according to the American College Health Association, a national non-profit group working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to spread the word about meningitis risks on college campuses.\nLocal college health officials have long offered the vaccine through their student health clinics. At Pittsburgh State, the vaccine has been offered on campus the last three years, and students moving into residence halls get information about the disease in their information packets.\nThe University of Kansas began putting meningitis information into new-student packets several years ago, too. And university health officials attend freshman orientation during the summer where they can answer questions from students and parents, and even give the shot on the spot for a fee.\nBut they wish more students would heed the advice. Sometimes it takes reported cases like the ones in Pittsburgh to drive the message home.\n"As college health physicians, we always have that in the back of our minds," said Myra Strother, chief of staff at KU's Watkins Memorial Health Center. "It's a very hard thing to diagnose. You always have to have that mind-thought to be looking for it."\nThe cases in Pittsburgh touched off a frenzy of activity around Christmas. County health officials informed the school of the two cases, reportedly the first-ever on the campus, Dec. 23.\nThe news touched off a quick, orchestrated effort to tell students who had already left campus. "The timing couldn't have been worse," said Ron Womble, director of the school's news services and media relations.\nBoth students lived in Trout Hall, one of the smallest of the university's six dormitories. College officials, assisted by the Crawford County Health Department and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment gathered information to give to students.\nThen 20 volunteers spent Christmas Eve phoning the dorm's residents. They were told Kansas health officials advised them to take preventative antibiotics as quickly as possible. Beyond that, students were told to contact their physicians or other health care professionals for further advice.\nThe college also sent e-mails to more than 6,500 enrolled students, faculty and staff, though their risk was considerably less. On Christmas Day, both the school and the county's health department staffed information hotlines.\n"We didn't have panicky people and we didn't have panicky parents," said Womble. "That was a concern: 'Will they understand?' We gave them good information, and I think that helped allay fears."\nJanis Goedeke, health officer for the Crawford County Health Department in Pittsburgh, said there have been no other cases reported.\n"We're going to be watching very carefully," she said.