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Julie Brown

6th student in Oregon infected with meningitis bacteria

Mark Hanrahan
KGW-TV, Portland, Ore.
A half dozen University of Oregon students have been diagnosed with the bacteria that causes meningitis since mid-January 2015. One has died.


PORTLAND, Ore. — Public health officials Thursday issued a plea to parents of University of Oregon students to get their children vaccinated against meningitis after a sixth student was found infected with the bacteria that can cause the potentially fatal disease.

The outbreak is far from over, said Dr. Paul Cieslak, director of infectious diseases for the Oregon Public Health Division, said the outbreak is far from over. Parents should make sure their children get the meningitis B vaccine before they leave the Eugene campus this week — final exams for the winter term end Friday — or when they're home for spring break next week.

"We need parents to help us get the word out to students about this dangerous, potentially deadly disease, and why it's crucial for students to get the meningitis B shot right now," Cieslak said.

The latest case involved a 20-year-old sophomore who lived off campus and is a member of a fraternity. He went to an outpatient clinic with flu-like symptoms.

Some 9,000 students have been vaccinated, and the goal is have all 22,000 undergraduate students get the shots.

The university is working to overcome young people's tendency to ignore preventive health care, an official said. The meningitis vaccine is not mandatory.

"We are realistic about the effort needed to convince 19- and 20-year-old to take an important action for preventative health care," university spokeswoman Julie Brown said. "We expect this is going to take time."

Students are being offered two types of new vaccines that target the B strain of meningococcal disease, a bacterial infection that can rapidly develop into a blood infection, or meningitis, that infects the lining of the brain or spinal cord.

One vaccine offers two shots over a month. The other offers three shots over six months.

The campus has had six cases since Jan. 13. One patient died, an 18-year-old freshman woman on the acrobatics and tumbling team.

Five of the six cases, including the young woman who died, involved blood infections, Cieslak said.

"The organism has basically diffused across the university campus," he said. "There's going to be a prolonged risk that will last not for a couple of weeks but for months."

Students who were in close contact with those who came down with the disease are given an antibiotic to kill bacteria that may be currently in their nasal passages but that cannot combat all potential meningococcal infections.

A sign directs students to a meningitis vaccination clinic Feb. 24, 2015, at Matthew Knight Arena on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, Ore.

"No one should be complacent about this disease," Cieslak said. "University of Oregon undergraduates who have not been vaccinated are at risk of infection, serious illness and death."

Graduate students who live in campus housing also are being urged to be vaccinated.

Cieslak said hundreds or even thousands of students likely have been exposed though only some will come down with the disease.

Around campus posters feature smiling student athletes showing off the arm where they were vaccinated and sporting a green or gold adhesive bandage with the school logo on it. In early March, vaccinations were offered at the university's basketball arena, and students now are being urged to go to local pharmacies.

E-mails were sent to parents. The university has worked with insurance companies to be sure the vaccinations are covered.

Meningococcal disease is rare, with 1,000 to 2,000 cases a year among the U.S. population of 300 million people, but it often erupts in outbreaks among young people under stress in a new place, such as college campuses and military boot camps, where they are exposed to diseases for which they have no immunity, said Dr. Patrick Luedtke, Lane County public health officer.

The bacteria are transmitted from person to person via droplets from the respiratory tract. — from kissing, sneezing or coughing on someone. Its average incubation period is four days but can range from two to 10 days.

Cieslak said he did not expect a meningitis vaccine to become mandatory because it remains rare and the rates of infection have been coming down.

Contributing: The Associated Press

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