Aseptic Meningitis Cases Soar in Orange County : Health: Incidents of the non-fatal disease are up 189% this summer in the biggest outbreak since 1987.

Orange County this summer has been hit with a 189% increase in aseptic meningitis cases over the previous year, health officials said Tuesday. The nonfatal ailment is caused by a virus, and the symptoms include severe headaches, stiff necks, muscle aches and fatigue.

Aseptic meningitis is an inflammation of the membranes surrounding the spinal cord. Its victims frequently need hospitalization because of excruciating headaches, but the infection rarely causes long-term damage.

From Jan. 1 to the start of this week, Orange County had 310 cases of aseptic meningitis, compared to 107 for the same period in 1991, officials of the Orange County Health Care Agency reported Tuesday. Health officials said it is the biggest outbreak of the ailment since 1987.

Health officials in Sacramento said there has been “an upward trend” this year in the number of aseptic meningitis cases statewide but nothing as remarkable as in Orange County.

Scott Lewis, spokesman for the state Department of Health Services, said that statewide there were 589 cases reported as of June 30, compared to 389 for the same period in 1991. In the first six months of 1990, Lewis said, there were 459 aseptic meningitis cases. “It’s cyclical in that it goes up and down (statewide),” he said.

But in Orange County, health officials said the outbreak of aseptic meningitis is beyond normal cyclical swings and is a cause for concern.

“The county usually averages about six to eight cases (of aseptic meningitis) per 100,000, and this year we’re showing about 12 cases per 100,000,” said Dr. Hildy Meyers, Orange County’s medical director of communicable disease control.

The virus that causes aseptic meningitis survives for long periods in fecal matter, and babies, because of diaper contact, are frequent victims of the ailment. Adults changing diapers should wash their hands afterward, health experts advise.

“About 40% of all cases affect children under the age of 1 year,” Meyers said. Although the infection disproportionately affects children, many Orange County adults are suffering in the current upsurge of the infection.

Meyers and other health officials said people suffering from symptoms of aseptic meningitis should always see a doctor because the same symptoms could be signs of meningitis caused by a bacteria. Bacterial meningitis can cause brain damage or death, health officials said.