Posted on 20 February 2015.
Four cases of the meningitis-causing bacteria meningococcemia have been reported at the University of Oregon since Jan. 16. Most recently, Lauren Jones died from meningococcemia.
Meningococcima and other meningicoccal diseases are not new to the University of Oregon or other colleges around the country. Schools like Providence College, Princeton and Yale have all experienced meningococcal cases in the past few months.
The majority of meningococcemia cases are isolated, and only 5 percent of cases have been defined as an “outbreak,” which the Centers for Disease Control says are three or more cases of the same strain. Most of the outbreaks occur on college campuses, where risk for the disease is increased because of large groups of people living in close quarters.
Here’s what you need to know about meningitis and meningococcemia:
What is meningococcemia?
Meningococcemia comes from a bacteria called Neisseria meningitidis and it is an infection of the bloodstream. The bacteria often lives in the upper respiratory tract without causing visible signs of illness.
So it’s like meningitis?
Not quite. The two are often used interchangeably in media reports, but meningococcemia is not meningitis. Both diseases are caused by the same bacteria.
According to the CDC, meningitis is caused by the inflammation of protective membranes around the brain and spinal cord. The inflammation happens when the brain and spinal cord is infected.
Both meningococcemia and meningococcal meningitis are meningococcal diseases.
What are the symptoms of meningococcal disease?
Part of what makes diagnosing the disease so tricky is that it shares symptoms with the flu. It also doesn’t help that it’s flu season.
- Fever
- Headache
- Stiff neck
- Confusion
- Drowsiness
- Rash
How does it spread?
The health center says that meningococcal diseases are generally transmitted through the exchange of saliva, like sharing drinks or kissing. The bacteria doesn’t spread through casual contact and is not as contagious as the common cold or the flu. In order to contract the illness, a person would need to have close contact with the patient for several hours over a week — so roommates or romantic partners are at an increased risk.
How can it be prevented?
This is what the UO Health Center suggests:
- Get vaccinated if you haven’t been yet.
- Don’t share cups, water bottles, utensils, toothbrushes, cosmetics, cigarettes, e-cigarettes or hookahs.
- Don’t drink out of a common source such as a punchbowl.
- Cough into a sleeve or tissue.
- Know that kissing poses a risk.
- Wash and sanitize your hands often.
How is the UO handing meningococcal disease?
The university offered emergency antibiotics to residents of the Barnhart residence hall, where Jones lived. On Feb. 19, the university emailed students, faculty and staff about Jones’ death.
Vice President for Student Life Robin Holmes followed up on Feb. 20 with an email detailing the university’s plan to conduct large-scale vaccination events starting during the first week of March. Later that afternoon, Lane County Public Health confirmed that Jones died from meningococcemia.
The UO has followed CDC protocol, which includes vaccinating those at risk and making sure those close to the patient receive emergency antibiotics.
Jones is not the first meningococcal death at the university. In 2012, Lill Pagenstecher, a member of the Chi Omega sorority, died from bacterial meningitis.
How have other colleges dealt with meningococcemia?
Princeton reported nine cases of serogroup B meningococcal disease as of Feb. 4, 2015. On its website Princeton posted emails related to meningitis sent to its student body starting May 7, 2013.
Emily Rogers is a junior at Princeton University and a South Eugene High School graduate. She lived on Princeton’s campus during its recent meningitis related outbreak.
“There was big outreach to get people to get vaccinated; pins, posters we got free cups if you got vaccinated,” Rogers said. “Because we all live on campus and it’s a fairly small school the university was really able to push getting vaccinated.”
Rogers said that Princeton did a good job keeping students proactively informed. Rogers said she felt totally safe throughout the outbreak.
“Everybody got vaccinated so quickly,” Rogers said. “I was never worried, I don’t know if anyone really was except the real hypochondriacs.”
Providence College in Rhode Island confirmed two cases of meningococcemia on Feb. 2 and Feb. 5. Providence received vaccinations on Feb. 7, emailed students to either get vaccinated or sign an opt-out for on Feb. 8.
After two days over 3,500 of the 3,800 students received vaccinations, according to Steve Maurano, Providence Director of Information. Maurano said that 150 students opted out of the vaccinations, staff are chasing down individual students that haven’t been vaccinated or opted out.
“Obviously we’d love to get as many people as vaccinated as possible,” Maurano said. “But it’s up to the students.”
Providence launched a website with facts about meningococcal disease, an idea Maurano said came from Princeton’s site. He said that UO reached out to Providence with a similar request.
The first student was recently released from the hospital and the second remains hospitalized.
So, what’s next at UO?
The health center is administering vaccines starting in the first week of March. We’ll follow along and update this post as the subject develops. In the meantime, you can follow our coverage here.
Joseph Hoyt is also an author of this post. Follow him (@joejhoyt) and Alex Wallachy (@wall2wallachy) on Twitter.
