Lehigh Responds to Meningitis Outbreak

Lehigh University confirmed a second case of meningococcal meningitis among its students on Sunday and responded by administering a preventative dose of antibiotics to more than 4,000 members of the university community, according to a dispatch on the university’s Website.

The antibiotic clinic will reopen at 9 a.m. today at Lehigh’s Lamberton Hall, 690 Taylor St., where more students, faculty and staff can receive a prophylactic dose of antibiotic – 500 mg of Cipro or an alternative – until 4 p.m. Medical staff will be there to provide information and advice.

The opened the clinic on Sunday for more than eight hours and handed out 4,290 doses of medicine “as a public health precaution,” according to Susan C. Kitei, the director of Lehigh’s Health and Wellness Center.

“Meningococcal meningitis is a bacterial form of meningitis, a serious infection of the thin lining that surrounds the brain and spinal cord,” according to the World Health Organization.

It can cause severe brain damage and is fatal in 50 percent of cases that go untreated.

Again, according to WHO, “the bacteria are transmitted from person to person through droplets of respiratory or throat secretions. Close and prolonged contact – such as kissing, sneezing or coughing on someone, or living in close quarters (such as a dormitory, sharing eating or drinking utensils) with an infected person – facilitates the spread of the disease.”

Both students with meningitis remain at in Fountain Hill and are responding to treatment, Kitei wrote.

“There are no other known or suspected cases at this time, although a number of students with symptoms were evaluated,” Kitei wrote. “Our medical staff, in consultation with public health authorities and with experts in infectious diseases, is closely monitoring the situation and is following established medical protocols.”