2008 Woodie Awards
Cornell addresses meningitis threat
Cornell Daily Sun (Cornell U.)
Emily Cohn
Issue date: 3/25/08 Section: National News
ITHACA, N.Y. (U-WIRE) - Along with the mid-semester grind of prelims, problem sets, presentations and papers, this semester some Cornell students faced an unprecedented stress -- the threat of bacterial meningitis. In the week prior to spring break, two students were hospitalized with the rare, yet potentially fatal disease that kills approximately 100 to 125 college students per year.
A little over two weeks after the initial scare, the two students, a 21-year-old female and a 20-year-old male, have been released from their respective hospitals and are doing well, according to Dr. Janet Corson-Rikert, executive director of Gannett Health Services. But the two cases caused students, faculty and health officials to examine the dangers of the contagious disease.
The Cornell community took a number of precautionary steps to ensure that the disease was contained after the first student was diagnosed on March 8. On March 14, one day after the second student was hospitalized, the University sent an e-mail to all students specifying three locations where individuals may have had contact with the infected students and recommending that members of the community be on alert for symptoms of the disease.
According to Daniel Sherman '10, a fraternity brother of one of the infected students, all members of the fraternity were advised to take 500 mg of Ciprofloxacin, or Cipro, a broad-spectrum antibiotic that blocks bacterial DNA replication.
"We contacted a number of people outside of our fraternity who we believed may be at risk [including] our cook and any other staff and recommended that they take Cipro," Sherman said.
Since the two diagnoses, health officials have been investigating the two cases, attempting to determine if they are linked.
"It's been confirmed that both cases were caused by type B neisseria meningitidis," said Simeon Moss '73, director of Cornell University Press Relations.
Neisseria meningitidis, better known as meningococcus, is one of the leading causes of meningococcal disease, or bacterial meningitis. In an infected person, the membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord become inflamed. The inflammation is caused by each of five strains of the meningococcus bacteria. A vaccination protects against four of the five strains.
A little over two weeks after the initial scare, the two students, a 21-year-old female and a 20-year-old male, have been released from their respective hospitals and are doing well, according to Dr. Janet Corson-Rikert, executive director of Gannett Health Services. But the two cases caused students, faculty and health officials to examine the dangers of the contagious disease.
The Cornell community took a number of precautionary steps to ensure that the disease was contained after the first student was diagnosed on March 8. On March 14, one day after the second student was hospitalized, the University sent an e-mail to all students specifying three locations where individuals may have had contact with the infected students and recommending that members of the community be on alert for symptoms of the disease.
According to Daniel Sherman '10, a fraternity brother of one of the infected students, all members of the fraternity were advised to take 500 mg of Ciprofloxacin, or Cipro, a broad-spectrum antibiotic that blocks bacterial DNA replication.
"We contacted a number of people outside of our fraternity who we believed may be at risk [including] our cook and any other staff and recommended that they take Cipro," Sherman said.
Since the two diagnoses, health officials have been investigating the two cases, attempting to determine if they are linked.
"It's been confirmed that both cases were caused by type B neisseria meningitidis," said Simeon Moss '73, director of Cornell University Press Relations.
Neisseria meningitidis, better known as meningococcus, is one of the leading causes of meningococcal disease, or bacterial meningitis. In an infected person, the membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord become inflamed. The inflammation is caused by each of five strains of the meningococcus bacteria. A vaccination protects against four of the five strains.
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