2008 Woodie Awards
Student at Univ. Maryland College Park contracts meningitis
Issue date: 2/28/08
An undergraduate student at the University of Maryland, College Park was hospitalized Friday with meningitis.
The student, a freshman fraternity pledge whose name has not been released, was taken to Washington Adventist Hospital after concerned fraternity members called the school's health center and Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life to relay the student's symptoms.
Though health officials have yet to determine which type of meningitis the pledge has, preventative antibiotics have been administered to more than 30 people who recently had close contact with him.
Meningitis is the inflammation of the coverings of the brain and spinal cord that can be caused by bacterial infection or a virus; the bacterial variety is much more serious.
Cases of bacterial meningitis, which is spread through saliva, are more prevalent in students living in on-campus housing, and Maryland law mandates that all such students either receive a vaccination or sign a waiver.
The University of Maryland has assured students that the disease has been contained and that the afflicted student is recovering well in the hospital.
Meningitis has affected the Homewood campus in recent years as well. In the past two years, Hopkins has grieved the losses of two individuals who had bacterial meningitis. Sophomore Gilbert Dulvaisant died from the disease in the fall of 2005, and art history professor Nancy Forgione passed away in December 2006.
The student, a freshman fraternity pledge whose name has not been released, was taken to Washington Adventist Hospital after concerned fraternity members called the school's health center and Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life to relay the student's symptoms.
Though health officials have yet to determine which type of meningitis the pledge has, preventative antibiotics have been administered to more than 30 people who recently had close contact with him.
Meningitis is the inflammation of the coverings of the brain and spinal cord that can be caused by bacterial infection or a virus; the bacterial variety is much more serious.
Cases of bacterial meningitis, which is spread through saliva, are more prevalent in students living in on-campus housing, and Maryland law mandates that all such students either receive a vaccination or sign a waiver.
The University of Maryland has assured students that the disease has been contained and that the afflicted student is recovering well in the hospital.
Meningitis has affected the Homewood campus in recent years as well. In the past two years, Hopkins has grieved the losses of two individuals who had bacterial meningitis. Sophomore Gilbert Dulvaisant died from the disease in the fall of 2005, and art history professor Nancy Forgione passed away in December 2006.
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