Youth dies of meningitis Youth dies of meningitis (January 09, 2004)

San Jose case is isolated incident, county officials say

By Julie O'Shea

The Santa Clara County Health Department is investigating three cases of bacterial meningitis that left a five-year-old San Jose girl dead on Christmas Day.

A mother and her 10-year-old son also came down with the disease, but are recovering, said health officials who are taking a closer look at the two incidents.

A spokesperson for El Camino Hospital said officials there are required to report any case of meningitis to the county. However, there was no way for her to know for sure if there had been an incident of the disease in Mountain View.

Two other cases of bacterial meningitis, bringing the total to five, have been reported in Santa Clara County for 2003, but that is no reason to panic, said Joy Alexiou, a spokesperson with the county health department.

"You are much more likely to get the flu than you are meningitis," Alexiou said.

In 2002, there were nine reported cases in the county, and the year before that, there were 10. Alexiou said there is generally between seven and 12 cases of the disease in any given year. The highest number of cases Alexiou can recall was 24 in one year.

A bacterial meningitis infection covers the brain and spinal cord and can cause organ failure and even death if not treated quickly. The disease is not easily transmitted and can only be spread by intimate contact, like kissing or sharing utensils or water bottles.

College campuses are more at risk than another other communities, Alexiou said, generally because students have more of a tendency to share more, say, water bottles.

As a policy matter, Alexiou said she can't disclose the names and locations of the five people who contracted the disease last year. However, the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed that 5-year-old Rachel Schrette died of pulmonary hemorrhaging due to meningococcal, a form of bacterial meningitis. Rachel died Dec. 25 at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford.

Alexiou said it is not known exactly how someone can develop meningitis in the first place. Doctors believe that some people in the community can be inactive carriers of the disease and can infect others without even realizing it, Alexiou said, adding that carriers might go their whole lives without ever getting sick with meningitis.

High fever, headache and stiff neck are the most common symptoms of meningitis in anyone age 2 and older. The symptoms, which also can include nausea, vomiting, confusion and sleepiness, can develop quickly over a few hours or take a day or two to show up.

Early diagnosis and treatment are important for a full recovery, Alexiou stressed. There are many antibiotics available to treat meningitis.

"Anyone who has a high fever should seek medical care," she added.

For more information about meningitis, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at www.cdc.gov.

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

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