Girl With Rare Bacterial Disease Remains Critical

A 12-year-old girl fighting the same rare bacterial disease that claimed her classmate’s life last week improved slightly on Sunday, while school officials geared up for an onslaught of questions today from parents concerned about their children.

The girl remained in critical but stable condition at Children’s Hospital of Orange County, officials said.

Administrators at Costa Mesa High School, where the girl is a student, expect numerous calls from parents and will launch a major effort to educate students on how to avoid spreading the disease.

“We’re ready to answer any questions,” Principal Andrew Hernandez said Sunday.

He said the school’s staff has been briefed on how to respond to parents’ inquiries.

Hernandez said all teachers will speak to their students about the characteristics of the disease and urge students to practice hygienic practices, such as covering their mouths when they cough or sneeze and not sharing drinks or utensils.

“It’s just a reminder,” Hernandez said. “These are things that they should be looking for all the time anyway. We will talk about how the infection is spread, and a little of its symptoms.”

The sick girl, a seventh-grader at the school, responded to her treatment aimed at destroying the aggressive and contagious bacterial infection called meningococcus.

But doctors warned the girl still is not out of danger.

“She’s responding to her parents with squeezing of the hands, and studies of her heart show it’s working much better,” said Dr. Nick Anas, the physician who heads the pediatric intensive care unit at CHOC.

Anas said the girl’s lungs are filled with fluid and she has a high fever, but bruising on her legs caused by the bacteria is not spreading. The girl, whose name is not being released at her family’s request, remains on a respirator, is being fed intravenously and is being treated with a combination of antibiotics, heart medication and diuretic drugs.

“Within the next 24 to 48 hours, we’ll be able to say whether she’s going to survive or not,” Anas said.

Meanwhile, doctors are performing tests on an 18-year-old man admitted to Chapman Medical Center in Orange on Friday night who is being treated for an unknown strain of meningitis. Doctors are trying to determine whether his illness is related to the two incidents at Costa Mesa High School.

The man, whose name is being withheld, was in stable condition Sunday, hospital spokeswoman Trish Bartel said.

Doctors at Chapman Medical Center also performed tests on a 48-year-old woman who also was admitted to the hospital Friday night, but ruled out the deadly disease.

Meningococcus is caused when bacteria spreads through the bloodstream. It differs from meningitis, which is caused by bacteria spreading to the brain or spinal cord. Symptoms of meningococcus include sudden high fever and vomiting, intense headaches, a stiff neck and a spreading pink rash accompanied by bruises.

The disease is most often spread through contact with an infected person’s saliva, by sharing food and drinks, or through hours of direct contact with someone sneezing or coughing.

Last week, the disease killed Costa Mesa High School student Kori Emer, a 12-year-old soccer player who fell ill Wednesday evening and died the next day.

“We expect to see several cases a year, but they’re usually isolated,” Anas said. “What’s unusual about this is they were in the same class.”

Orange County recorded 33 cases of meningococcus in 1996 that resulted in three deaths.

Last month, an 8-year-old Garden Grove girl, Esther Mehee Yi, died from the disease.

Orange County Public Health Director Hugh F. Stallworth, reached at home on Sunday, said he has heard of no other cases being reported in the county over the weekend.

“That’s very good news,” Stallworth said.