Meningitis scare touches close to home

Emo resident Tanis Fretter is heading to get vaccinated against meningitis after six unrelated cases–two resulting in death–were reported in the Waterloo area since December.
Fretter, a third-year health studies co-op student at the University of Waterloo, said she and her friends wanted to get in on the first day of the three-day student clinic there.
“Word had spread pretty quick when we got back to school,” she said yesterday evening from Waterloo, noting every class advertised the clinic.
One of her professors even took time out to explain what meningitis was–and the importance of being immunized.
“I guess it’s a concern, especially now that everybody’s back at school,” she added. “I know a lot of people are wanting to get in on the first day [of the clinic].”
Fretter’s mother, Nancy, admitted she and her husband, Bob, had concerns about her daughter going back to the Waterloo area in the wake of the meningitis scare.
“We tried to get her her shots before she left on Friday,” she noted, but added the local health unit didn’t have the vaccine.
Fort Frances resident Ryan Gustafson, a third-year co-op student at Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, admitted he hadn’t heard anything about the meningitis scare until he returned home for Christmas.
Now on a four-month placement here, Gustafson admitted he’s been looking into whether he still needs to be vaccinated.
“My mom’s been checking into it, and I may have to get one here,” he noted, but pointed out the doctor didn’t think it was necessary.
Nonetheless, Gustafson said he’s been keeping a close eye on how he feels each morning.
But there is good news for those who have concerns about students heading back to the Kitchener-Waterloo area.
“There have been no cases of meningococci bacteria at any of the three [post-secondary] institutions among the student population,” noted Ken Allan, team leader for communicable disease control at the Northwestern Health Unit.
Meningococcal meningitis is an infection that attacks the lining of the brain. Up to 10 percent of the people who get it die, while a percentage of children suffer defects from it.
It also can lead to blood poisoning.
“It is a serious disease if you do happen to contract it. But usually the risk declines as you get older,” Allan said, adding most people contracting it normally are under four years of age.
That, though, is one of the rarities of this outbreak. The six who contracted the disease ranged in age from 12-22. And the two who died were aged 16 and 18.
Also strange was that none of the cases were related. Dr. Pete Sarsfield, chief medical officer for the Northwestern Health Unit, said if they were connected, health officials just had to immunize people exposed to that environment.
“When they’re springing up randomly, then you’ve got to immunize the whole region,” he explained.
Though the “bug” itself isn’t rare, Dr. Sarsfield stressed it was rare when it leads to meningitis. Some 400 cases are reported across the country each year.
The tricky part was diagnosing the disease. Symptoms are flu-like, and Dr. Sarsfield said it was up to parents to recognize when they were getting rapidly worse.
Meanwhile, there isn’t a fear students home for Christmas may have brought the disease to Rainy River District.
“It’s as close to a zero risk as there is,” Dr. Sarsfield assured, adding those visiting that area wouldn’t need to be immunized, either.
But he recommended those going back for the rest of the school year should be immunized.