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November 8, 2002
U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS
"Colleges Trying to Cut Down Disease"
Boston Globe (www.boston.com/globe) (11/06/02) P. B1; Russell, Jenna
Many colleges and health department officials are urging incoming students to get meningitis vaccinations as a way to curtail infections. A 22-year-old University of Massachusetts at Amherst senior was hospitalized on Monday after being diagnosed with meningitis; school health officials said they did not know whether the student had been vaccinated against the disease. Meningitis is a bacterial infection that attacks the brain or spinal cord, and it is usually contracted through saliva and causes flu-like symptoms. Research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that college students are at a greater risk of contracting bacterial meningitis because of the close quarters they share in dormitories. Approximately 100 college students in the United States are diagnosed with meningitis every year. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health reported 52 cases of meningitis with three deaths in 2001, and so far this year, 37 cases and four deaths have been reported. The department asserts that the vaccine could prevent two or three meningitis infections among college students in the state each year.
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OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR
LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND
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