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Meningitis could devastate community, USU health whiz says By
Julie Ann Grosshans Meningococcus, the bacterium causing meningitis, may not have hit USU, but senior public health education major Cherice Flitton said that if it did, it could devastate the community. After doing an extensive survey of the students living in on-campus residence halls at the beginning of the fall 2001 semester, Flitton concluded that the university has not made preparations for education of its students, according to her Undergraduate Research and Creative Opportunities project. Flitton is one of many undergraduate students who received public money from the university for original research. "We haven't had any [cases at USU], but we don't want any," Flitton said. "Students at Utah State University are considerably healthy. However, I do not think that one can equate healthiness to awareness. One can still be healthy but not aware of his or her susceptibility to a disease. This is the case with bacterial meningitis" Increasing public awareness of bacterial meningitis had been on the priority list for the Student Health and Wellness Center, Flitton said, and she simply asked if she could take over the project. According to a pamphlet by the makers of the Aventis Pasteur vaccine, symptoms of bacterial meningitis are similar to the flu. People who come down with meningitis also complain of having a headache, fever, stiff neck, extreme fatigue, nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to light. A vaccination for the disease costs anywhere from $65 to $85, Flitton said. "If you have any of the symptoms, I would go to the doctors immediately," Flitton said to those living in dorms, who are at the highest risk. She dispersed 555 e-mails to Utah State students having a WebMail account, asking students about their personal habits and knowledge of bacterial meningitis. She said she received 217 replies and found that although 64 percent of those students were aware of a vaccine for meningitis, only 14 percent actually had received it. On Oct. 20, 1999 the Centers for Disease Control's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted to recommend college students be educated about meningitis, Flitton said. The panel based its recommendation on recent studies showing college students, particularly freshmen living in dorms, to have a six-fold increased risk for meningitis. Some of the reasons freshman are at a greater risk are the overcrowding of living space and the use of alcohol and tobacco, Flitton said. "Of those who responded to the survey, 36 percent claim to smoke and 10 percent claim to drink," Flitton said. "It would probably be higher for other states." Students who attend bars are at a higher risk. According to a web site made by a mother who lost her son to meningitis in 1995 in Waterloo, Canada, attending bars and clubs puts people at a higher risk because of the germs passed through glasses. Drinking and smoking can also weaken ones immune system, said James Turner, director of the department of student health at the University of Virginia in an April 2002 Cosmopolitan magazine article. Flitton said she contacted student health services from other universities in Utah and discovered that although they have the vaccine for bacterial meningitis, schools have done next to nothing to promote it. Brigham Young University has done the most to educate students, she said. An article appeared about meningitis in the campus newspaper fall 2001. Roughly one week after Flitton talked to a health professor at BYU, a young man contracted the disease and died, she said. Since the tragedy, the Provo campus is much more aware of bacterial meningitis. A San Diego State University co-ed contracted the disease over Christmas break and died, according to the SDSU student newspaper at www.thedailyaztec.com Maggie Lutz was a little luckier. In 1997 Lutz was a freshman at the University of Iowa living in the dorms. She quickly found herself fighting for her life against meningitis. She was not feeling and had developed "black freckles" on her legs so she went to the student health center. "Sometimes you don't know how serious your condition is until you see how others react to it, and the doctors in the ER were acting so urgent, it scared me," Lutz told Cosmopolitan magazine in its April 2002 issue. "I was told I could have one of three infections ‹Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Toxic Shock Syndrome, or meningococcal septicemia, which can lead to meningitis. All three can be accompanied by what's called a hemorrhagic rash (the spots on my leg). "I was vaguely aware of meningitis‹I'd heard of people dying from it, and I thought, 'I really hope I don't have that,'" she said. Lutz survived meningitis because of an experimental drug called Xigris, she said. Although she was the only one to come down with the bacteria, she did not return to Iowa the following year. Meningitis does not only affect college students. Donald Sutherland, who played Hawkeye Pierce in the 1970s flick M*A*S*H contracted meningitis in 1979, according to www.near-death.com. The focus remains on educating those in the most danger. Because awareness of the disease is increasing, colleges are starting to either require the bacterial meningitis vaccine or suggest it. According to letters included in her research, Flitton found McMaster University in Hamilton, Ohio, Drew University in Madison, New Jersey and Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, are all educating their students on the disease. Flitton said she hopes to do the same for Utah State University. "We would like to send something out at the start of the school year," she said. Upon graduation, Flitton said she plans to do public health work in Oregon and continue to educate people about meningitis.
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