Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Del Mar College student, 19, suffering meningitis

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Thursday, February 22, 2001
Del Mar College student, 19, suffering meningitis
College president meets with 40 who had class with the infected student, who was hospitalized
By Tamara Hill
Caller-Times

Symptoms of infection
Common symptoms of a meningitis infection include a fever, severe headache, stiffness of the neck, nausea, vomiting and a skin rash that looks like small, purplish spots. Anyone suffering from these symptoms should see a doctor immediately and tell the physician about their contact with an infected person.

A 19-year-old male student at Del Mar College was diagnosed with meningococcal meningitis on Tuesday, a potentially fatal disease that causes infection of the tissues that surround the brain.
   The student was hospitalized last weekend and confirmed to have the bacterial meningitis, Del Mar President Terry L. Dicianna and Dr. Nina Sisley, director of the Corpus Christi-Nueces County Health Department, announced Wednesday.
   While not as contagious as viral meningitis, bacterial meningitis has a higher mortality rate, according to Dr. Jaime Fergie, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Driscoll Children's Hospital.
   "Many people develop viral meningitis and it has no consequences," Fergie said. "But the bacterial meningitis is much more severe and has a higher mortality and more severe symptoms like seizures and hearing impairment."
   Dicianna and Sisley would not release the name or condition of the infected student.
   This is the first case of meningitis reported in Corpus Christi this year, Sisley said.
   "There's no real reason for people to panic," Sisley said. "It's not as contagious as a cold, you cannot get meningitis by walking into a room. You have to be in direct contact with them like inhaling droplets they expel when they're singing or sneezing or a nasal discharge."
   Dicianna said that he spoke to about 40 students who attended two classes last Friday with the infected student to answer questions and discuss how meningitis is spread. Dicianna would not give the names of the classes or the infected student's major. Deans, instructors, administrators, custodial and food service workers were also told about the infection.
   Meningitis, commonly called spinal meningitis, has been the focus of health problems and the cause of several deaths in Houston. The city began giving mass vaccinations last month. Sisley said that mass vaccinations would not be considered for Corpus Christi unless there were a minimum of 30 confirmed cases.

   State health officials said that the local case was unrelated to the Houston meningitis cases that killed four people. Peter DeForest, epidemiologist for the local health department, said the local strain was confirmed as Type Y, a less severe strain of the Type C strain found in Houston.
   About 5 to 10 percent of all meningitis cases end in death, Sisley said. But the disease is highly treatable with oral antibiotics.
   Sisley said the only people who may have a higher risk of contracting the disease are family members, a girlfriend or any other people who recently came in close contact with the student. If those people experience common symptoms associated with meningitis - including a fever, severe headache, stiffness of the neck, nausea, vomiting and a skin rash that looks like small, purplish spots - they should see a doctor immediately and tell the physician about their contact with an infected person.
   "The risk only increases with people who live at home with those persons, not just people who are working or studying with them," Fergie said.
   If a person has had direct contact with an infected person, a doctor may also prescribe antibiotics to help prevent the contact from developing meningitis.

Medical Writer Tamara Hill can be reached at 886-3759 or by e-mail at hillt@caller.com

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