The latest Ohio University student to contract bacterial meningitis is expected to recover.
Junior Lindsay Harris fell ill with symptoms of bacterial meningitis Saturday. She was treated at O'Bleness Memorial Hospital before being transferred to Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus. She remains in intensive care and was in stable condition as of Sunday.
Hospital officials said only family members were allowed visiting hours yesterday.
Harris, a Columbus-area native, lives in the Alpha Delta Pi house, 101 S. Court St.
She's awake and talking
said Dean of Students Ryan Lombardi. We're expecting she'll make a full recovery.
Lombardi said the tests to determine the strain of meningitis Harris contracted will take time. It has, however, been confirmed that she has bacterial meningitis.
All of the testing is done externally so we're not going to know for at least a week Lombardi said.
Bacterial meningitis is an inflammation of the membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website. It can result in brain damage, hearing loss or learning disabilities. Symptoms of meningitis include high fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, difficulty looking into bright lights, confusion and sleepiness.
Harris is the eighth OU student to contract bacterial meningitis in the past two years. All of the previous seven cases were found to be the same strain - meningitis Type B. Last February, freshman Andrea Robinson died after a brief battle with the infection.
The CDC declared in March that OU has a meningitis outbreak. The center might make another trip to Athens as early as this winter to conduct a study on how many OU students carry the bacteria as compared to national averages. A person can be a carrier of bacterial meningitis without falling ill.
Intensive care patients are unable to receive calls to the hospital and calls to Harris' personal phone were not immediately returned yesterday.
1
News
Tristan Navera
