Thread: El Capitan students treated against meningitis outbreak

El Capitan students treated against meningitis outbreak
Hundreds given vaccines, antibiotics after three middle schoolers get sick.
By Anne Dudley Ellis / The Fresno Bee
03/23/07 04:36:00

The Fresno County Health Department dispensed hundreds of doses of antibiotics and vaccines Thursday at El Capitan Middle School and planned to close the campus today after three students were hospitalized with meningococcal meningitis, a rare and contagious bacterial disease.

Central Unified School District employees turned the school's gym into a makeshift shot clinic after working late into the night Wednesday on an emergency plan to try to get antibiotics to all 811 students. The school is near McKinley and Blythe avenues in west-central Fresno.

Central Unified Superintendent Marilou Ryder said Thursday that the medicine delivery went as planned.

"My biggest fear was pandemonium, and that absolutely did not happen," Ryder said.

Still, the district and health department decided to close the school out of concern about the disease and the distractions created by the situation, officials said.

"It just kind of helps everybody, eases their mind," said David Luchini, division manager of communicable diseases for the county health department.

District officials said 78 students were absent Thursday, about twice the normal rate.

The district planned to use buses to transport students to the campus today who did not get the antibiotics Thursday.

Parents would be allowed to ride the buses with their children.

The antibiotics will be provided between 9 a.m. and noon, said Edward Moreno, health officer for Fresno County.

Meanwhile, health officials were still investigating the activities of the three infected El Capitan students but had not determined that the students had any close contact recently that would have spread the disease.

The department has sent samples to the state Department of Health laboratory for testing to help determine the source of the infection.

The three students were still in the hospital Thursday, health department officials said.

One has developed meningococcemia, a potentially life-threatening infection of the bloodstream.

Meningococcal meningitis kills about 10% of those it infects and can cause brain damage and other ailments if not treated early.

Those who had close contact with the infected students received antibiotics earlier this week to prevent them from becoming infected.

The germs that spread the disease are carried on respiratory droplets, typically spread from person to person by sharing a cup or a kiss; they are not spread through casual contact.

Parents and students seemed to be taking the emergency in stride, although some were nervous.

"I was scared as soon as they told me," said Maribel Mujica, who has two sons at El Capitan.

She arrived at the school Thursday afternoon, along with scores of other parents, to sign release forms so that their children could receive the antibiotics.

Eighth-grader Zhibley Escalante said she thought one of the stricken students was a classmate.

Many students were concerned, she said.

"They're scared because they might have [the disease]," Zhibley said.

Pam Hargrove, who has an eighth-grade son at El Capitan, said the school seemed to respond well to the outbreak.

"From what I can see, the parents are knowing what's going on," Hargrove said.

The school used an automated phone-calling system and staff in an effort to urge every El Capitan family Wednesday and Thursday to have their children take the antibiotics.

The antibiotics are to prevent students who harbor the bacteria from becoming sick. The vaccination, when it begins working in about 10 days, should protect them over the long term against most strains of bacterial meningitis.

The county health department gave antibiotics to 608 El Capitan students and also 45 students from other schools who are teammates of El Capitan Middle School athletes, Moreno said.

In addition, 146 adults received antibiotics, he said.

Luchini said he could not recall the department having ever dispensed antibiotics to all students at a school.

Bacterial meningitis is an infection of the fluid of the spinal cord and swelling of the membrane that surrounds the brain.

Unlike viral meningitis, which is caused by a virus and leads to a less severe illness, meningococcal meningitis affects only about one in 100,000 people.

About 10% of the population harbors the bacteria, but few become ill with it.

Fresno County generally has six cases a year of the disease, Luchini said.

"It's so rare, I don't think we'll have any more cases [at the school]," he said. "I hope we've stopped it."
Bee staff writer Barbara Anderson contributed to this report. The reporter can be reached at aellis@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6328.

http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/36985.html

A sad update to this story:

Six-Year-Old's Death May Be Connected To Meningitis Outbreak
play

The Kings County Coroner announced on Friday that they are investigating the death of a six-year-old Lemoore boy which they believe may be connected to a recent meningitis outbreak.

The boy, who lived at the Lemoore Naval Air Station, was rushed to the Hanford Hospital on Wednesday when he fell ill. He later died from his illness.

All that Kings County officials will confirm right now is that they are looking into a potential outbreak of bacterial meningitis.

Stay with KMPH and KMPH.com for more on this developing story.

For more information on meningitis, go to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention Website at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseasei ... ccal_g.htm.

Story Created: Mar 23, 2007 at 11:29 AM PST

Story Updated: Mar 23, 2007 at 12:21 PM PST

http://www.kmph.com/news/local/6669892.html

Gee, do you suppose that all the Hispanics in this school are legal--all 48.5% of them? I looked it up on the following web site:

http://www.schoolmatters.com/

There ought to be a law--that all public officials (elites also) have to send
their kids to public schools and eat school lunches. This would probably
clean up this country, quickly--and help get rid of gangs.

That school site is a good resource socalcracker. I notice that figure of 48.5% is from 2005.......I bet it's considerably higher now. And can I also add that the 6 yr old boy that died was the child of one of our military troops? He lived at NAS Lemoore.

Unfortunately, we probably are going to be seeing a lot more of this. We are slipping into third world status by all these people bringing in their diseases and their poor hygiene.