New immunization for incoming freshmen

Freshmen coming to IU this fall will be the first to arrive after a new federal recommendation that they be vaccinated for meningococcal meningitis.\nIn January, a new vaccine for the disease, Menactra, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of patients 11 to 55 years old. Following this approval, the Centers for Disease Control recommended that all college freshmen living in dorms receive the new vaccine, according to a report by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.\nThe report also recommended that young adolescents, 11 and 12 years old, be immunized with the new vaccine, as well as 15-year-olds entering high school.\nMenactra is "new to the general population for now," said Anne Reese, director of Health and Wellness Education at the IU Health Center. Because the new vaccine has never been available before, freshmen arriving in the dorms this fall have not been treated with it. \nThe new vaccine is longer-lasting than the previous meningococcal meningitis vaccine, Menomune, Reese said. It is also more effective. The ACIP report says that patients treated with Menactra had more infection-fighting antibodies present after three years than those treated with Menomune.\nLast year, the IU Student Health Center administered about 440 doses of the old vaccine, according to Chief Pharmacist Cheryl Thomas. Currently, the health center has about 410 doses of the new vaccine, which Thomas expects to last through the fall semester, despite the CDC's new recommendation.\nAdditionally, there are still more doses of Menomune on hand, for patients treated at the health center who fall outside of the 11 to 55 year old.\nIn response to the new CDC recommendation, the health center is working to inform new students and their families about meningococcal meningitis. A new brochure prepared by the health center explains that meningococcal meningitis poses a threat to students living in dorms because the bacterium that causes the disease can be spread by coughing, sneezing, or sharing tableware.\nThe bacteria might also reside harmlessly in a host for months, according to the brochure. There could be a population in which 95 percent host the bacterium, but only 1 percent may became ill, suggesting an individual's overall immunity determines whether or not they contract the disease.\nThe majority of nationwide cases are in infants, whose immune systems have not yet fully developed, but the second-most common place to find these infections are in college dorms.\nAlthough the disease is rare, it is difficult to diagnose, because early symptoms are easily mistaken for a case of the common cold. By the time a diagnosis of meningitis can be made, patients often die, or survive with brain damage.\nReese estimates that there has been an average of less than one case of meningitis at the health center per year for the past decade. \n"Because the CDC has strengthened its recommendation, there is more interest"