<p>This is pretty scary.</p>
<p>Very sad. Hopefully the vaccine can get here and students can be better protected. </p>
<p>I’m not all too familiar with meningitis other than from knowing people/family who’ve had it. Is it common to spread so slowly that it’s only averaging about one case a month?</p>
<p>Yes, it is scaring me, too, simplystated1961. I don’t have a kid at P, but can easily see how this could happen on any campus. Romani, one case a month is actually a LOT for one college, it is an outbreak in spite of the fact it isn’t running through like wildfire – meningitis doesn’t usually spread too widely or quickly. Colleges are right on it when a case happens because it is such a serious illness… it would be great if that vaccine for the B strain could get through the approval process and (hopefully safely) become available for all of our students at all colleges.</p>
<p>So Princeton doesnt require vaccinations for enrollment?
Or is it viral?</p>
<p>The incubation period for meningitis is from one to ten days. The university has not released the date each student contracted the infection. My guess is a cluster of infections probably occurred since the beginning of the school year which prompted the action by the CDC.</p>
<p>It is bacterial. There have been 7 cases thus far.</p>
<p>[Breaking:</a> Trustees to consider emergency meningitis vaccines for Princeton community - The Daily Princetonian](<a href=“http://dailyprincetonian.com/news/2013/11/breaking-trustees-to-consider-emergency-meningitis-vaccines-for-princeton-community/]Breaking:”>http://dailyprincetonian.com/news/2013/11/breaking-trustees-to-consider-emergency-meningitis-vaccines-for-princeton-community/)</p>
<p>Spreading of the infection must be a concern as the students will be heading home for the holiday in a couple of weeks.</p>
<p>No universities in the US strictly require that their students be vaccinated. Many require it on paper, but all are required by law to respect religious exemptions. And of course anyone can claim that their exemption is religious.</p>
<p>Actually, that is a matter of state law, not federal. Not all states have religious exemptions for private institutions. In addition, in New Jersey, should an infectious disease outbreak occur, a university may require students without documented evidence of immunity to stay away from the campus until the outbreak is over. In other words, at Princeton, those claiming a religious exemption can be required to stay away from campus.</p>
<p>NJ law requires the meningitis vaccine for enrollment but this strain is not included in the vaccination. The outbreak started last spring. </p>
<p>My daughter is a freshman at Princeton.</p>
<p>This is sad because surviving bacterial meningitis, specifically neisseria meningitidis, can leave patients with life-long disabilities from hearing loss to amputations. A vaccine is available and should be recommended for all students. My oldest was vaccinated at the age of 13. I went ahead and vaccinated everyone in the family down to the 2 year old. The problem with this bacteria is the fact that many individuals are carriers yet are healthy. However, when they enter a dense living environment, such as dormitories, they can readily pass this bacteria on to others and cause an outbreak. I am going to give everyone in my family a booster after reading about this outbreak. I am puzzled as to why we do not have a B strain vaccine in the US.</p>
<p>Guys… did you read the article?</p>
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<p>Even if they were vaccinated, they weren’t vaccinated against this strain.</p>
<p>It’s scary enough that we have to worry about our own strains, now this. Sad, sad.</p>
<p>On a side note, this is interesting:</p>
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<p>I wonder if this will set a precedent for future requests of this nature.</p>
<p>“Scientists have been working for two decades to make a vaccine to protect against the B strain, but its been challenging. There are many types of B bacteria that cause illness and its tough to produce a universal vaccine that would cover strains circulating in different parts of the world.”</p>
<p>“Bexsero, which is manufactured by drugmaker Novartis, was approved earlier this year for use in Europe and Australia.”</p>
<p>[Emergency</a> meningitis vaccine will be imported to halt Ivy League outbreak - NBC News.com](<a href=“http://www.nbcnews.com/health/emergency-meningitis-vaccine-will-be-imported-halt-ivy-league-outbreak-2D11603651]Emergency”>Emergency meningitis vaccine will be imported to halt Ivy League outbreak)</p>
<p>I was getting meningitis B mixed up with Hep B in my head.
Glad to hear the students are recovering.</p>
<p>man oh man, this is very, very scary…</p>
<p>I wonder if there will be a backlash against int’l students who come from certain countries? Diversity is great, but the question of putting the other students’ lives at risk because of what disease might get brought over will cause some questions.</p>
<p>When my son was a second semester frosh, he was in a class that had many int’l students. At Christmas break, many had gone home and then returned for spring semester. In late January, my son contracted something (still unknown) that gave him a 105 temp for 8 straight days. He was hospitalized, fully tested, yet the disease wasn’t identified. The doctors concluded that he may have caught something that was brought back from another country. It was scary. Even tho he had had the meninigitis shot, they did give him a spinal to rule out another strain (which resulted in that absolutely horrid spinal headache). </p>
<p>The weird thing is that a few weeks later, and then again another few weeks later, the same thing happened (but each time for a shorter period). The last time was “move out” and son couldn’t do ANYTHING but lay on the couch while we packed his stuff. </p>
<p>We still have no idea of what that was.</p>
<p>^^^I wonder how Americans would feel if other countries were to not allow our students to study abroad because they could possibly bring over some unknown disease.</p>
<p>My heart goes out to everyone involved, particularly parents of Princeton kids and the kids themselves. Meningitis is so scary.</p>
<p>I’m so glad that the six previously affected Princeton students recovered, and hope the most recent case recovers, too. The lasting effects of bacterial meningitis can be devastating, as frugaldoctor said.
People travel - American students and international students. They may enroll in another country’s university when they travel, or they may travel for work/fun. Even if it were to be proven that the strain was introduced by an international student, I can’t see why there would be backlash against them. We live in a world without the geographic barriers that used to prevent the easy spread of disease. Diseases are “brought over” here all the time, and Americans carry diseases when they travel, as well.</p>
<p>An acquaintance was the director of medical services at a large private university. She was strict with her own kids about not sharing drinks, ever. She also used to warn kids not to use a funnel to drink from a keg because the meningitis bacteria can reside in the back of the throat and that seemed to her a perfect vector for transmission. My kids were young at the time and I had no idea people even did that (being the unadventurous type).</p>
<p>So many questions…</p>
<p>Will the CDC be able to get the vaccine and inoculate all students before they return home for the holiday? Does the vaccine help those who are in the incubation period? The incubation period for meningitis is 1 to 10 days. Thanksgiving break is only 14 days away.</p>