Cerritos College
Cerritos College • Norwalk, Calif.

Talon Marks

Cerritos College • Norwalk, Calif.

Talon Marks

Cerritos College • Norwalk, Calif.

Talon Marks

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Vaccine can help protect students against meningitis

Vaccine can help protect students against meningitis

(MCT)-Each year, students experience life on college campuses unaware that some of the world’s deadliest germs are going through their college years too. Streptococcus pneumoniae and Neisseria meningitidis bacteria are among those that cause meningitis, a disease that can wreak havoc in an unsuspecting college population. In 2005, Ashley Lee, a freshman at Indiana University in Bloomington, was diagnosed with meningococcal meningitis, a terrible and life threatening infection that causes inflammation of the meninges, the thin tissue that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. Her case is the textbook example of the need to encourage or even mandate procedures for disease prevention on campus. Young adults and teenagers are at increased risk of infection. Twenty percent of cases occur in people between the ages of 14 and 24. The disease can be airborne, or spread through direct contact with someone who is infected. College students freshmen especially are more susceptible to infection. Lifestyle factors including crowded living conditions, population diversity and increased instances of sharing beverages and/or utensils usually increase the probability of contracting the disease. Meningococcal meningitis is particularly vicious and deadly. Initially, the symptoms resemble those of a cold or flu and can develop over the course of several hours, or even a couple of days. The symptoms include high fever, headache, nausea and confusion. (So, basically the same as a typical college hangover.) Then we get to the really icky part. As the disease progresses, a purple rash may appear and skin tissue may begin to break down. In cases like Lee’s, the infection resulted in the loss of her left foot, permanent scarring and the amputation of several fingers. But Ashley was lucky. The bacterial disease kills many of the people it infects. Treating bacterial meningitis consists of the immediate administering of antibiotics. But the disease progresses very quickly, so treatment does not always lead to a full recovery. Sounds pretty horrible right? Well the good news is that there’s a vaccine for it. That’s right; you can usually protect yourself from getting it. One of the vaccines is called Menactra, and it’s 83 percent effective in protecting against four types of bacterial meningitis. So problem solved, right (at least 83 percent of the problem)? Wrong. One would think that with such a deadly disease out there, and with college students at such high risk, people would do something like make the vaccine mandatory. But that’s not the case. As it stands, only 20 states require a mandatory meningococcal meningitis vaccination. And, according to the Centers for Disease Control, only 12 percent of teenagers got the vaccine in 2006. Why is that the case? Well there are a lot of people out there who think that the disease is so rare, that there’s no point in getting the vaccine. Maybe they’re afraid of needles. Maybe they like a challenge, and want to see if meningococcal meningitis or, “the gitis” as it’s been known in underground circles, is all it’s cracked up to be. The disease affects fewer than 3,000 people every year, but that doesn’t mean that it’s so rare that we shouldn’t protect our young adults against it. Being struck by lightning is rare. Fewer than 800 people are injured or killed by lightning every year. But that doesn’t mean that it’s OK to stand in a field during a thunderstorm. Another argument is that parents have the right to decide what vaccines their children should and shouldn’t get. Maybe parents should have the freedom to exercise a level of control over the lives of their children, but that power should be checked when their decisions can affect the lives of not only their children, but others as well.

Many of these cases end in death. Why take a chance by not getting the vaccination? Why not push to make the vaccine mandatory in all 50 states? If there’s one thing that Steve Irwin taught us, it’s that sometimes, taking a chance can kill you. (c) 2007, Kai Beasley. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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Vaccine can help protect students against meningitis