Girl Killed by Meningitis Is Buried

A 17-year-old Yorba Linda girl died of bacterial meningitis early this week, prompting Orange County health authorities and Esperanza High School officials to issue both a warning and a reassurance about the rarity of the illness.

Taylor Camp, 17, fell ill over the weekend with what her family thought was the flu. Tuesday morning, her mother couldn’t rouse her from sleep, and Taylor was pronounced dead a short time later at Placentia Linda Hospital in Placentia, health officials said.

An unspecified number of Taylor’s relatives and friends were treated to prevent spread of the illness, said Dr. Hildy Meyers, medical director of the county Health Care Agency’s office of Communicable Disease Control and Epidemiology.

Meyers said the county experiences 15 to 40 cases of infection from Neisseria meningitidis or meningococcal disease each year, with annual deaths ranging from zero to five. Taylor’s death was the second in Orange County this year, she said, adding that there was no apparent connection between the two cases. Last year there were two deaths among 22 reported cases.

“It does happen every year, but it is unusual for young, healthy people to die of an infection,” Meyers said. “It’s really the very young who have the highest rate of disease.”

Officials at the federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta on Thursday described bacterial meningitis infections as rare, with only about 2,600 cases reported nationwide each year. The infection can be passed through intimate contact--such as kissing or sharing eating utensils--but not by general contact, such as students sharing a classroom.

“The bacteria are spread through exchange of respiratory and throat secretions, such as coughing and kissing,” said Charles Fallis, a CDC spokesman. “It’s not as contagious as something like a cold or the flu.”

The bacteria attacks the fluid in the spinal cord and surrounding the brain and can result in hearing loss, brain damage and death. Symptoms are generally flu-like, and bacterial meningitis--the kind Taylor contracted--is considered more severe but less common than viral meningitis, according to the CDC. Both types of the disease are transmitted by contact with respiratory fluids, such as saliva.

As Taylor’s family buried the high school senior in a private ceremony Thursday, fellow students, school officials and parents sought to place the death in context.

“We’re concerned [about contagion], but not especially,” said Becky Garnant, whose daughter is a sophomore at the nearly 3,000-student school. “Obviously, we’re on the watch, but we’re not particularly concerned. The students are mostly concerned for the girl who died. They knew her and they feel bad.”

Cindy Hazzard, president of the school PTA, said most parents she has talked with understand that this type of meningitis carries relatively low risk of contagion.

“Sure they’re concerned, but they’re not in a panic,” Hazzard said. “This isn’t an epidemic. This is one child. My God, I would be devastated if it was mine. Going to a child’s room and finding them passed away. . . .”

Few details about Taylor were available. The family couldn’t be reached and asked the funeral home, McAulay & Wallace Mortuaries in Fullerton, and school officials not to release further information.

Karen Bass, spokeswoman for the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District, said the school sent letters home with students Wednesday to both notify and reassure parents.

“We wanted to let them know that the child had passed away and that there was a possibility of meningitis,” Bass said.

The letter also included a list of symptoms and advice for avoiding infection, such as washing hands after contact and before eating, and not sharing food, utensils or drinking glasses.

The response, both by the school and county health officials, fell in line with guidelines developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and endorsed by the CDC.

Despite the size of the school, Hazzard said most of the students knew Taylor, and that her death was “devastating” for many of them.

“There’s great sadness on campus,” she said.

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Bacterial Meningitis

Two people have died in the county this year of Neisseria meningitidis infection, or meningococcal disease, a relatively rare bacterial infection, Orange County health officials said. Number of cases and deaths in previous years.