Students at risk for meningitis

by Kenneth Todd Ruiz
Assistant Editor

Joseph "Pat" Kepferle was 19 when he entered Towson University in Maryland as a freshman. Six months later, his parents were summoned to a hospital where Pat's friends had brought him after he became seriously ill.

By the time they arrived, Pat was unconscious and in the final moments of life.

"The doctors let us touch his head and tell him how much we loved him," Michael Kepferle wrote after his son's death. "Our hearts were broken; we had lost our Pat, the laughter of our hearts."

Kepferle was the victim of meningococcal meningitis, a rare but potentially fatal bacterial infection of the membrane surrounding the brain and spinal cord.

Few people give much thought to meningitis, a relatively obscure disease. Though it is rare, infection often results in tragic results. Victims can progress from peak health to death in less than 24 hours, while survivors are often left with severe aftereffects including mental retardation, hearing loss and loss of limbs.

Research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have determined that college students living on campus are at least six times as likely to contract meningitis. Lack of sleep, cigarette smoke, alcohol consumption and a crowded living environment ­ common dormitory life- create ideal conditions for the bacteria to spread.

"You can be totally healthy one moment, become exposed, and then rapidly decline," said Cynthia Denne, director of student health services at the University of La Verne.

The disease is transmitted through prolonged airborne exposure and direct transfer of saliva through such things as sharing drinking glasses, cigarettes or kissing.

Early symptoms include high fever, severe headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, lethargy and a spreading rash. These symptoms are often mistaken for influenza, but the disease can progress in as few as 12 hours, and without prompt diagnosis and treatment, can result in death.

Meningitis infects approximately 3,000 Americans annually, killing about 300. One hundred to 125 of these 3,000 are college students.

Incidents of infection peak in late winter and early spring, and since 1991, cases of meningitis among 15 to 24-year-olds has doubled, according to the CDC.

"We had received a vaccination notification from the school," said Kepferle, who has helped found the nonprofit National Meningitis Association (www.nmaus.org). "We tried to get Pat vaccinated at the local clinic, but they didn't have the meningitis vaccination."

The Kepferles were not too concerned about it, but urged their son to get it done once he was in school, offering to pay for the vaccine. Unfortunately, Pat did not make the time in his hectic college schedule.

Recently, several states have moved to mandate that all incoming dormitory and residence hall students be vaccinated against the disease. While vaccination is not required under California law, universities are required to communicate the option to incoming students.

The current vaccine, "Menomune," provides 85 percent protection against common strains of the bacteria and is available at the UV Student Health Center for approximately $65. A physical exam is required, Denne said, but is provided free of charge for students.

"Students (should) consider vaccination to reduce their risk for potentially fatal meningococcal disease," the American College Health Association said.

Denne urges students to call (909) 593-3511 extension 4254 to schedule a vaccination.

The CDC said that given the rarity of the disease, mandating vaccination for the almost 600 thousand dormitory living freshmen would be impractical.

"The risk for meningococcal disease among college students is low; therefore, vaccination of all college students who live in dormitories or residence halls is not likely to be cost-effective for society as a whole," said the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in a June 2000 recommendation.

Kepferle disagrees.

"Unequivocally, I would urge parents to have your kid vaccinated," he said. "After Pat died, I wanted everybody to have to get the shot."