Learning more about bacterial meningitis
A student at Crescenta Valley High School has tested positive for bacterial meningitis, and a second is suspected of having the rare but dangerous disease. As a result, hundreds of students received oral antibiotics provided by the county Department of Public Health.
What is bacterial meningitis?
Sometimes called spinal meningitis or meningococcal disease, it is an infection of the fluid surrounding the spinal cord and brain.
Bacterial meningitis is generally more serious than viral meningitis and can result in brain damage, hearing loss or learning disability.
How does one get the disease?
At any given time, about 5% to 10% of people have the bacteria in their throat or mouth without getting ill. But in a few people, the bacteria overcome the body’s immune system and cause illness.
What are the symptoms?
High fever, headache, confusion, sensitivity to light and a stiff neck. Early diagnosis is critical, because the disease progresses quickly -- within a few days of exposure. Shortly after the La Crescenta senior was admitted to the hospital Monday night, she fell into a coma and was placed on a ventilator. She has since emerged from the coma and is improving, although she is still listed in serious condition. Pathology tests were negative for meningitis, and she is being retested.
A second student, a boy in his junior year, wasn’t as sick but tested positive for the disease.
How serious is the disease?
It can be deadly: 10% to 14% of victims die. And up to 19% of survivors suffer long-term impairments such as neurological disability, limb loss and hearing loss.
Who is most at risk?
Infants in their first year of life are nine times more likely to get the disease than the general U.S. population.
Others who live in close proximity to one another, such as students in college dorms, are also more vulnerable, as are people without spleens or with chronic underlying illness.
How is it diagnosed?
Doctors take a spinal fluid sample by inserting a needle into an area of the lower back. The fluid is tested to detect increased white blood cells and the meningitis bacteria -- and if present, which strain. Some strains are more deadly than others.
How common is it?
It is very rare in the U.S. On average, only about one person in 100,000 gets the disease. That amounts to 1,400 to 2,800 cases a year.
Is it contagious?
Many strains are contagious, although they are not as easily transmitted as the common cold. Bacterial meningitis is spread by coughing, kissing, sharing lip gloss or coffee cups, whispering or other activities in which respiratory or throat excretions are exchanged. In this case, however, the two students apparently didn’t know each other, did not share classes and did not have any known contact with anyone with the disease.
Is it treatable?
Yes, a number of antibiotics are effective. There is also a vaccine that helps prevent the more common strains of the disease. The boy was found to have the Serogroup B strain. It is more commonly found in infants than adolescents, and the vaccine does not prevent it.
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Sources: Los Angeles County Department of Health Services and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
