Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Meningitis victim, 19, is better

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Saturday, February 24, 2001
Meningitis victim, 19, is better
A&M-CC encourages vaccinations for some
By Tamara Hill
Caller-Times
Ross Max Vernal, the 19-year-old Del Mar College student diagnosed with meningococcal meningitis Tuesday, is feeling much better, relatives said.
   Vernal is in the intensive care unit at Driscoll Children's Hospital and is expected to move to a regular hospital room within the next three days, said Irma Moya, his mother.
   Doctors still have not determined how Vernal contracted meningitis, a potentially fatal disease that causes infection of the tissues that surround the brain.
   Vernal was not available for comment because he is still recuperating from the disease.
   "He hasn't said much and he hasn't figured out how he got here," said Moya, 40. "He doesn't have any memory of how he got here."
   Moya said Vernal became ill Sunday morning, first noticing a sore throat and aching muscles. He thought he had the flu and asked his grandmother to take him to the hospital. There he was given a prescription for antibiotics and released, his mother said. Around 5 p.m., Moya found Vernal on the floor.
   "We asked him what's wrong and he wouldn't say. He had this blank stare in his eyes and he wasn't answering," she said. "We called 9-1-1 and he broke out into a sweat. He wasn't responsive at all. It was like he wanted to take off and run."
   Moya said that she and eight other relatives have been given antibiotic treatment to help protect them from getting meningitis.
   So far, none of the family members have experienced any symptoms.
   As a result of the health scare, dormitory students at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi are being encouraged to get vaccinated for meningitis, said Celeste Kendrick, director of the University Health Center.
   The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta recommend that meningitis vaccinations be offered to all dormitory residents because dorms are a common place for meningitis outbreaks.
   This is primarily because dorms foster large groups of students whose immune systems have been weakened from smoking, excessive drinking, lack of sleep and poor eating habits.
   Kendrick said students are always encouraged to take the vaccine but the local case put a face of reality on the possibility of students contracting meningitis.
   "We have a case in town and it means that people can spread it," said Kendrick, who is a family nurse practitioner.
   "We don't want students to panic but it's just using good prevention sense."
   The $60 vaccinations are available to university students, faculty and staff but dormitory students are the primary focus, Kendrick said.
   So far, seven students have taken the vaccination and four more are on a waiting list for the next shipment of 20 additional doses. Students can call 825-2601 for more information.
   Del Mar College is not recommending student vaccinations because they do not have dormitories on campus, said Claudia Jackson, assistant to the president for community relations.
   She said that no additional students have been reported as having meningitis symptoms including a fever, severe headache, stiffness of the neck, nausea, vomiting and a skin rash that looks like small, purplish spots.
   Dr. Nina Sisley, director of the Corpus Christi-Nueces County Public Health Department, said that parents would not pass meningitis onto their children unless they are sick with the disease.
   Sisley said the local health department is not going to have mass vaccinations unless 30 cases are confirmed in the city.

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

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