Federal health officials recommend vaccinating adolescents against bacterial meningitis

Date published: 9/20/2005

By NATASHA ALTAMIRANO

Back-to-school time means sports practices, homework and changing leaves. It also means immunizations.

For the first time, parents have the option to vaccinate children as young as 11 against bacterial meningitis, a rare but potentially deadly disease.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now recommend that children receive the new meningitis vaccine before entering high school or earlier.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in January approved the MCV4 vaccine, marketed under the trade name Menactra, for people ages 11 to 55.

Even so, the new meningitis shot hasn't caught on with parents.

Several Fredericksburg-area school nurses said they didn't know of any students who have received the new vaccine.

Debbie Willis, school nurse at Battlefield Middle School in Spotsylvania County, said she hasn't come across any records of meningitis vaccinations.

"It's not required so I didn't expect to see any," Willis said.

In Virginia, required immunizations for day-care children and students include diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenza type b, measles, mumps, rubella, polio and varicella, according to the state Health Department.

Mary Anne Lowery, school nurse at Spotsylvania High School, said many parents may not know about the new vaccine.

"I wonder how many people really realize it's out there at this point," she said.

Jo Lynne DeMary, Virginia's superintendent of public instruction, last month issued a memo to all division superintendents recommending that schools provide information on bacterial meningitis and the new vaccine to parents.

Schools in Stafford County are distributing information on the disease and the new vaccine through monthly newsletters, said Kathy Whitby, the county's school nurse manager.

Parents also can get information on the vaccine from their child's pediatrician or the local health department office.

Bacterial meningitis is caused by bacteria that infect the bloodstream and the linings of the brain and spinal cord. The disease begins with flulike symptoms, progresses rapidly and can kill within hours.

Each year, 1,400 to 2,800 people in the United States are infected with the disease, and about 10 percent to 14 percent die from it. Other complications include loss of limbs or sense of hearing, brain damage, seizures or strokes, according to the CDC.

Two Spotsylvania County teenagers were hospitalized and released after cases of bacterial meningitis in June.

Some meningitis infections in the Fredericksburg area have ended in death, including a Stafford County teacher in February 2003, an 11-year-old Stafford County girl in March 2002 and a 57-year-old University of Mary Washington professor in December 2001.

The new vaccine costs $105 at the health department offices, said Sylvia Newport, immunization coordinator for the Rappahannock Health District, which includes the city of Fredericksburg and Stafford, Spotsylvania, King George and Caroline counties.

As of last week, all the health department offices in the area had a supply of the vaccine, Newport said.

Date published: 9/20/2005