Kaleigh Lynn Guy, University senior, died July 30 from bacterial meningitis.State Acts 251 and 711 require students entering the University to provide proof of meningococcal immunization upon registration. The requirement affected students entering the University for fall 2006 and all subsequent years.Guy had not received the vaccination, said Julie Hupperich, associate director of the Health Center. Her death prompted the University’s Student Health Center to examine how many students are in compliance with the Act.”Seventy-three percent of students are in compliance, and 27 percent of students are not in compliance,” Hupperich said.  Students can opt to waive the required vaccination for “essentially any reason” because of the state law, Hupperich said.When the vaccination became mandatory in 2006, Hupperich said a lot of students waived the requirement because of a shortage of the vaccination. But there has not been a shortage since 2006, Hupperich said. The University identified Guy’s death as an isolated case, asserting no outbreak of meningitis loomed in the future. Guy was not enrolled in summer school and did not live on campus.Guy’s coworkers at TigerTalk, the LSU Foundation’s call center, were notified and given medication.”None of them have shown symptoms of the meningitis,” said President Emeritus William Jenkins in a broadcast e-mail.The last documented outbreak of meningitis occurred between Jan. 26 and Feb. 14, 2006, at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, according to a        Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals’ report.Six cases of meningitis were diagnosed in people connected to UL-Lafayette.There are two types of meningitis — bacterial and viral. Bacterial meningitis is the more acute of the two types and can cause brain damage, loss of hearing and learning disabilities, according to the Center for Disease, Control and Prevention. Virual meningitis is serious but rarely fatal, and symptoms last for about seven to 10 days, according to the CDC.Guy died of bacterial meningitis.Cases of bacterial meningitis in Louisiana decreased during the ’80s, steadily increased in the ’90s. The disease peaked at 74 cases in 2001 and has since decreased, according to the report.There are five groups of the bacteria. The vaccine is ineffective against Group B, which accounts for one-third of Louisiana cases, according to the report.Infants have the highest occurrence of new cases of meningitis at 10 per 1,000,000 cases. The number of cases drops to 1.5 cases between the ages of five and 19. The number of cases decrease more to 0.4 in the 40 to 49 age range. The rate of meningitis increases with age after 49, with the rate rising to 1.1 in the age group of 70 and above, according to the Louisiana report.Some versions of meningitis are contagious, according to the CDC. The bacteria can spread through the exchange of respiratory and throat fluids, which can be passed to another person by coughing or kissing.Meningitis is not as contagious as the flu or the common cold, according to the CDC.College students, especially those living in residence halls, are considered high-risk groups because of the closeness of their living arrangements, Hupperich said. The symptoms of meningitis include high fever, headache and a stiff neck.—-
Contact Allen Womble at [email protected]