Meningitis fears prompt rule change

After reading a magazine article that told the sad story of a college student dying of meningitis, freshman Allison Cooke made sure to get her vaccination before moving in to Collins Living-Learning Center this fall.\nThough she has yet to catch even the flu from the cramped quarters of dorm life, she still thinks it's a good idea for students to get vaccinated before making the move to college, she said.\n"I was a little afraid of it," Cooke said. "My mom thought I would die."\nApparently, students and their parents aren't the only ones worrying about the disease. \nAt the start of this semester, about 300 Penn State University students were not allowed to move into their dorm rooms because they had not received meningitis vaccinations or signed a waiver acknowledging the risks of declining the vaccination.\nA similar plan will be in place at IU for next fall's incoming freshman class. Hugh Jessop of the IU Health Center said that information about the disease, cost of vaccination and places to receive the shot are part of the orientation packet sent to freshmen. \nStudents who will be living in dorms will now have to sign a card stating that they have received and are aware of this information.\nThis law, Legislative Bill 1161, was passed last year, but the Health Center has been supplying freshmen with meningitis information for the past five years. \nSome of this information, however, argues that meningitis vaccinations should not be at the forefront of college students' health concerns. \n"I think informing the public is essential," Jessop said. "But the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta does not recommend the vaccination program."\nCost is one of the reasons why Jessop said the vaccination is not practical. The shot costs, at minimum, about $75.\n"If we have 6,000 incoming freshman, that's almost a half million dollars," he said.\nJessop said inaccuracy is another reason to examine the meningitis vaccine. He said four strains of bacterial meningitis exist, and only three are covered by the vaccination. In the past 12 years, four cases of the disease have been documented at IU, and two were identified as the strain not covered by the shot. Tests were not conducted on the other two, so they may or may not have also been of the same strain.\n"Thirty or 40 percent of all disease comes from that strain," Jessop said.\nMakers of the vaccination say it is 85 percent effective, Jessop said. So, in practice, since 30 to 40 percent of the disease is not covered, the vaccination is truly only 56 percent effective.\nJessop said the disease is contracted from close, intimate contact but is, "not something that's easy to catch."\n"Fifteen to 20 percent of the population carries the dormant bacteria in their throats, but only certain people succumb to it," he said.\nFreshman Eric Ball, a resident of Wright, did not receive a meningitis vaccination, but he said he is wary of the illnesses that seem to spread like wildfire in the dorms. \n"If one person gets something, everyone gets sick, and I don't want to get sick," he said.\nJessop is aware that this worry is common among college students, but he thinks there are other aliments more pressing than meningitis, he said. \n"Students are much more inclined to have problems with Hepatitis B," he said. "We're looking at the risks versus the cost benefit. If you go into most doctors' offices, they don't offer the vaccine. There are better ways to use your public health money. But there are risks. It's like playing the lottery"