By: Carl Thomas
08 November 2010
Student Health Center (SHC) staff have confirmed that USA is going to make bacterial meningitis vaccines mandatory for all on-campus residents next year.
Beverly Kellen, practice director for the SHC and USA Family Medicine, said the vaccine is essential for the safety of students on campus.
“Bacterial meningitis is what every college campus, especially residential, worries about. It’s really rare but can be potentially fatal. This is the biggest difference,” she said. “Viral is not usually fatal. Bacterial often is.
“It comes on very quickly. It starts like the flu – fever, chills, headache.
“By the next morning it gets so bad you need to go to the hospital.”
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) and American College Health Association recommend students in dorms and residence halls receive meningitis immunization.
Despite the rare nature of the disease, they reported the highest concentration of cases in areas where people live in close proximity to others – making students in dorms especially prone.
Kellen said that the CDC noted college freshmen as the group with the highest reported number of cases.
“We have highly recommended immunization for years at [incoming student] orientation,” Kellen said. “Especially because the University is transitioning more to a residential campus, we have already implemented [measles, mumps and rubella] and tuberculosis testing and vaccination for international students.
“This is our next step to enhancing our adherence to CDC guidelines.”
Read the entire article here.
(Note from SaneVax: According to this article, despite the rarity of the disease, your child can now be told they cannot live on a college campus dorm if they do not want to receive a particular vaccine. What happens when these colleges implement their plans to ‘enhance their adherence to CDC guidelines?’ Just how many vaccines will be required to comply?)
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