Despite the recent meningitis scares in the Baton Rouge area, the University has procedures to notify the campus of an infected student.
Meningitis, which infects the fluid of the spinal cord and brain, is a deadly disease caused either by a virus or bacteria. It can cause severe brain damage, hearing loss and learning disabilities.
Three known cases of the disease exist in the Baton Rouge area – one in which Heidi Graves, a University student, was diagnosed.
In a November 2003 article of the Reveille, Dr. Timothy Honigman, LSU Health Center Medical director, said college students living in dorms are most likely to contract meningitis.
He said going to public places such as night clubs puts students at risk.
Honigman said the disease can be spread from person to person by sneezing, kissing, coughing and drinking after each other.
Tiffany Netters, Residential Life communications and conference coordinator, said it seems college freshmen are more at risk because statistically more freshmen live on campus.
“I don’t think there is anything to do with their health,” Netters said.
Kristine Calongne, Media Relations assistant director for University Relations, said certain emergency procedures go into action whenever a student living on campus is infected with a contagious disease.
Netters said if the infected student had been living in a residence hall, Residential Life would have had until 10 a.m. the morning after diagnosis to notify proper authorities.
Time is essential, Calongne said.
Notification directions take place immediately after the Residential Life coordinator of the infected student’s dorm is notified, Netter said. The chain reaction would take up to 10 minutes.
She said student notification also would occur in a chain reaction, starting with hall meetings for students in dorms to notifications on cable channel 74 and ending with the posting of fliers.
Calongne said LSUPD will notify University Relations once an infected person is found.
University Relations will trace the movements of the infected individual until they find all persons who had contact with them, she said. This includes notifying all professors and students who take classes with the student.
Calongne also said the Student Health Center and
the University will check
with the infected student’s parents.
She said University Relations used this procedure when Heidi Graves was diagnosed with the disease during the semester break.
The University contacted her parents and were told that she had no University contact for weeks prior to her diagnosis, Calongne said.
“It was lucky for the other University students that she hadn’t been on campus for a few weeks,” Calongne said.
Netters said on-campus reported incidents of meningitis have not taken place in the past 10 years, but the University is ready for any case that might arise.