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A bacterial meningitis outbreak that has been sweeping its way across Princeton University, infecting at least eight students since earlier this year, has become around the loose at University of California Santa Barbara.
UCSB authorities say a fourth student originates down having a strain of meningitis similar to the one that has been ongoing at Princeton in New Jersey. While students on the new england have all received care and have made full recoveries, at least one student from UCSB needed both his feet amputated because of insufficient blood flow to his limbs due to infection.
“He’s from my hometown. I really hope he is succeeding,” UCSB student David Burkow, told ABC News. “It’s just kind of scary because there is a continuing fear.”
The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department declared on Monday that four students became ill last month. Since the outbreak, more than 300 students who had connection with those who fell ill received antibiotics.
Now, the California University has urged students to refrain from attending social events, including all sorority and fraternity parties, to try and keep your disease from spreading, according to an official statement on Monday.
Bacterial meningitis can be caught by kissing, coughing and prolonged contact, in addition to through cup sharing, which is common at school parties. Symptoms include headache, fever, stiff neck, nausea and vomiting.
Fraternity member Jared Dinges told ABC News’ Sydney Lupkin he includes a few “rules of thumb” to keep free from the potentially deadly disease.
“Just don’t share bottles,” he said. “Avoid kissing new girls things like this. You need to be safe.”
While UCSB officials take presctiption high alert, experts with the US Cdc and Prevention (CDC) have maintained that the California meningitis outbreak is not connected to the Princeton outbreak, because the two strains don’t share an identical “fingerprint.”
When it comes to Princeton outbreak, the FDA has approved an internationally available meningitis vaccine to become shipped to the US for that Ivy League students. Princeton is expected to receive about 6,000 doses because of its students around December 9, 2013.
Meningitis kills a minumum of one in 10 people who contract it leaving about 20 percent of survivors with permanent health issues, including limb loss and mental retardation, according to the CDC.
UCSB officials are urging all students to seek medical care in the first sign of symptoms. As the school is stopping short of forcibly stopping all social events, it is making sure students know that meningitis can be transmitted through close social contact, including sharing alcoholic drinks, cigarettes and eating from the same plate or sharing utensils.
“All the existing cases appear to have had close personal contact,” the college noted in an email to the campus community.
Meningitis is not as common in the US because it once was, but figures reported by NBC News show that between 800 and 1,200 cases are still reported annually in the US. Vaccines that are offered for meningitis in the US only cover four strains: A, C, Y and W-135. The B strain vaccine, that is obtainable in Europe and Australia, is not yet approved to be used within the general US community.
NBC News also reported that another case of meningitis from New Jersey-based Monmouth University is from the C strain of meningitis. That individual remains hospitalized, but is recovering, according to a college spokeswoman.
