Bacterial meningitis casts shadow over region

FORT COLLINS – The sky isn’t falling, but Northern Colorado residents are living under a shadow of potentially deadly bacterial meningitis.

Two young, healthy Colorado State University students living in Fort Collins were admitted to Poudre Valley Hospital within hours of each other on the evening of Oct. 19, both exhibiting symptoms of meningitis. One, a 19-year-old man from Parker, was treated and released within a few days. The other, a 23-year-old woman from Evans, died three hours after her admission.

It now appears the 19-year-old student contracted viral meningitis – a much more common form – and his admission to the hospital on the same night as the woman who died was purely coincidental.

By the time this is published, more details may be known about the victim and whether there was any connection between her and three players on a Fort Collins Adult Hockey League team who died after apparently contracting bacterial meningitis during a hockey game in June.

Two of the three men, ages 28 and 29, died later that month. Another man, age 52, held out until Oct. 11. The first and only other fatality in Colorado from the bacterial infection this year occurred in April – a student at Metro State College in Denver.

Same strain, conflicting reports

Adrienne LeBailly, M.D., director of the Larimer County Department of Health and Environment, held a press conference Oct. 27 to try to clear up some of the confusion that developed following the latest death and conflicting reports to the media on the cause of death.

LeBailly told reporters that test results from the state health department laboratory confirmed that the woman’s death was caused by the same bacterial strain that killed the three hockey players. That strain is known as Group C meningococcal bacteria.

But tying the deaths together probably won’t be possible, LeBailly said.

“We know that for each case of meningococcal infection, there are likely dozens of asymptomatic carriers of an outbreak strain who never become ill but can transmit the bacteria to others, most of whom will also never become ill,” she said. “This makes direct connections between cases impossible to identify.”

The potentially deadly bacteria live inside the nose and throat and can only be passed from person to person by sneezing or saliva transfer. LeBailly advised against sharing eating utensils, drink containers, toothbrushes and cigarettes.

She even recommended against kissing to help avoid spreading the meningococcal bacteria.

“There is a pretty severe strain circulating in the community,” LeBailly said. “Certainly deep kissing lots of people is frowned upon.”

As of press time on Nov. 2, no new meningitis-related cases have been reported. But LeBailly said the bacteria can remain in a community for months and that the deaths in June and in October were likely outbreaks of the same infection.

Booster shots recommended

LeBailly said the woman’s death was the first for someone who had been vaccinated against meningococcal disease. But she received her vaccination in 2006, and LeBailly said it appeared the case confirmed the results of new studies showing the vaccine loses its effectiveness within five years.

“Unfortunately, the effectiveness of the vaccine decreases as time passes, and it appears that after five years, antibodies decline to pre-vaccination levels,” she said.

For those worried about contracting the disease, shots are generally available at most family physician offices, LeBailly said.

Those who have already had a vaccination might consider getting another inoculation. On Oct. 26, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta voted to recommend a booster shot at age 16 for children who had been vaccinated at age 11 or 12.

Ironically, at least from Northern Colorado’s viewpoint, the committee only narrowly approved the recommendation on a 6-to-5 vote because cases of bacterial meningitis are considered to be at historic lows, with only 11 cases reported last academic year across the nation and only three deaths.

LeBailly said the particular strain of meningococcal bacteria that killed four people in Fort Collins in five months is new and will simply have to run its course.

“How long it will take to do that, we just don’t know,” she said.

Steve Porter covers health care for the Northern Colorado Business Report. He can be reached at 970-232-3147 or at sporter@ncbr.com.

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