A probable case of viral meningitis has occurred in Foster House on South Green, but Ohio University’s dean of students does not think it is linked to the eight cases of bacterial meningitis on campus since 2009.
The student, a female sophomore, is expected to make a full recovery and is now being treated at a Columbus hospital for viral meningitis, the less serious form of the disease, said Dean of Students Ryan Lombardi.
Because viral meningitis is contagious, Foster House was cleaned and disinfected this morning to prevent the spread of the virus. Students who share classes with the sick student have also been notified via email.
OU is also offering antibiotics to students living in Foster House at a meeting in
the residence hall’s lobby at 3 p.m. Students can also take the antibiotic at no cost at Campus Care until 7 p.m. tonight and from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. tomorrow.
If the case is confirmed to be viral meningitis the antibiotics will have no effect,
but the university is taking extra precautions because of the outbreak of bacterial meningitis this past year.
“If this happened five years ago, we probably wouldn’t do anything,” Lombardi
said. “… But we’re being extra precautious given our history.”
The student went to O’Bleness Memorial Hospital last night because she was
experiencing symptoms — high fever, severe headache, stiff neck, sensitivity to light, sleepiness or trouble waking up, nausea, vomiting and lack of appetite — and was then transferred to a hospital in Columbus.
“I think she reacted very well, because we say go directly to the emergency room if you have these symptoms,” Lombardi said.
One OU student, Andrea Robinson, died in February 2010 of type B bacterial
meningitis, which is not prevented by the meningitis vaccine. Viral meningitis, however, is “rarely fatal in people with normal immune systems” and patients typically stop experiencing symptoms within seven to 10 days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website.
Meningitis is typically spread through contact with the saliva or mucus of an
infected person.
