Tests Inconclusive In Meningitis Case Reported At St. Mary's

Tests on a St. Mary’s College student hospitalized with meningitis came back inconclusive Tuesday afternoon, but about 60 students, faculty and staff were treated with antibiotics just in case they were exposed to a particularly dangerous bacteria, college and county health officials said today.

The student at the Moraga college was hospitalized Monday morning with symptoms of meningitis, an acute inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, and the college immediately set out to determine who the student had been in close contact with.

Meningitis can have a variety of causes, but can be particularly dangerous when caused by the meningococcal bacteria, so health officials ran tests to determine its cause.

The tests came back inconclusive Tuesday afternoon, County Health Department physician Nishant Shah said.

“We know college students are a demographic that are more at risk for meningitis,” Shah said. “So we take college students who present with meningitis very seriously.”

As soon as the meningitis case was reported, the college’s health and wellness center set out to identify and treat anyone who was in close proximity to the student, St. Mary’s dean of students Evette Castillo Clark said today. In all, 60 students, faculty and staff were treated with antibiotics by Monday evening, she said.

Anyone else with concerns about exposure was also treated. Restrooms and classrooms on the campus were thoroughly cleaned and a notification was sent to alert students, staff and faculty of the meningitis infection and the precautionary steps the college has taken, Clark said.

“I want to thank our health and wellness center staff specifically for acting extremely swiftly” to identify the potentially affected individuals and get the message out about the illness, Clark said.

--Bay City News

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