The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has re-classified Ohio University's meningitis cases as an outbreak, after DNA tests revealed all seven students who fell ill with the potentially deadly bacterial infection during the last two years contracted the same strain.
No vaccine exists for the strain, called Type B, but OU will require all students to receive a meningitis vaccine for four other strains - A, C, Y and W-135 - by this fall. About 68 percent of students have already been vaccinated, Dean of Students Ryan Lombardi said in an e-mail.
The CDC arrived in Athens March 2 to begin studying the outbreak, and has been working closely with local health officials. OU freshman Andrea Robinson, of Cleveland Heights, died Feb. 17 after becoming infected.
It probably has considerable significance that it is the same strain that's being passed in a high-energy community
said Dr. James R. Gaskell, Athens County health commissioner. Type B causes a third of the state's meningitis cases, he said.
Neither the local nor the state health department has the resources to examine DNA from the seven meningitis cases, Gaskell said.
Working with (the CDC's) study could save someone's life said Charles Hammer, administrator for the Athens City-County Health Department. It's a preventative study to find out what's going on.
Researchers haven't developed a vaccine for Type B. A vaccine tested on animals created antibodies that attacked the meningitis bacteria and also damaged neurological tissue - causing serious harm, Gaskell said.
The new classification will not change how the CDC approaches its investigation in Athens, Gaskell said.
Gaskell said he does not expect the center to find a smoking gun or a typhoid Mary but he anticipates its epidemiological study might reveal a pattern of behavior that can be altered.
At the time when kids first come to OU
they can be made aware of what pattern of behavior is likely to lead to this infection
Gaskell said.
With just weeks until spring break, the CDC has a limited opportunity to study the outbreak, Hammer said. He advised students to get enough sleep, exercise, wash their hands frequently, cover their mouths when coughing, not share food or drink, avoid excessive drinking and not smoke.
Students need to take care of each other as much as possible. In other words
if you have a roommate who's sick
you need to encourage them to seek medical care
Gaskell said.
Students need to recognize the hallmarks of meningitis, Gaskell said. These include dot-like rashes on the extremities, headache, fever, stiff neck, vomiting and weakness.
The average incubation period from when a person contracts meningitis to when he or she falls ill is about four days, although it can range anywhere from one to ten days, Gaskell said.
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