<p>Wellesley did require students to have the meningitis vax, but since this new strain wasn’t included, I guess they are at risk as well. This is one scary disease!</p>
<p>And an interesting tale at Novartis whose vaccine unit needs to get to profitability…NJ and Big Pharma are quite connected so it will be interesting to see exactly who is putting forward the recommendation and what ties, if any, they have to the pharma industry and/or to Princeton. </p>
<p>[Novartis</a> Bexsero Meningitis Shot Wins EU Agency?s Backing - Bloomberg](<a href=“Bloomberg - Are you a robot?”>Bloomberg - Are you a robot?)</p>
<p>“This is clearly good news,” Alistair Campbell, an analyst with Berenberg Bank in London, said in a telephone interview today. “We’ve been waiting a long time for the approval and the delay had raised questions about the viability of the division.” </p>
<p>Failure to win approval for Bexsero may have led Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis to sell or scale back the vaccine unit, which the company built through the $7.5 billion acquisition of Chiron Corp., completed in 2006. Andrin Oswald, who heads the unit, declined to discuss the sale of parts or all of the unit.</p>
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<p>Oh please. Int’l students don’t put students’ lives at any more risk than going to a supermarket or being around kids with idiot parents who don’t get them vaccinated. International students are probably less of a risk than domestic kids given the vaccines you have to have to come over here- I don’t believe international visitors can just ignore the vaccine requirements like citizens can.</p>
<p>^ It’s also possible this was not an international student, but a US student who traveled overseas over the Spring Break (for family travel or organized Break trip) and returned with the disease.</p>
<p>The linked article doesn’t say anything about it being an international student that triggered the outbreak.</p>
<p>Very good point, sahp.</p>
<p>The first & second cases were a female US student and a male visitor. The students had just returned from Spring Break. They never said if she had left the country or not.</p>
<p>Dragon, another article said the student came from abroad but didn’t specify whether or not it was an international student or a domestic student on spring break. </p>
<p>I think we can make a reasonable guess that this was a domestic student on spring break abroad.</p>
<p>I guess I read the articles to imply that in order to import this Bexsero, the meningitis outbreak must be connected to an Australian or European B strain, or else why recommend its administration on a campus full of different B-strain carriers?</p>
<p>I understand that this was a B strain. Nevertheless, schools need to seriously consider mandating meningitis and other vaccines for all students. These are supposed to be the best years of your life, not the years where you may acquire a disability.</p>
<p>They do mandate the regular meningitis vaccination. Only 4 students on campus have not had that mandated vaccine due to religious reasons.</p>
<p>And the school could require them to leave campus.</p>
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<p>Here we go again… another conspiracy theory against Big Pharma.</p>
<p>Int’l students don’t put students’ lives at any more risk</p>
<p>I didn’t just say “int’l students”…I said those from certain countries…meaning countries that may be a concern. many int’ls and travelors have been coming from the same countries forever and there’s been enough back and forth that germs, etc, have been spread back and forth for awhile. those from those countries wouldn’t be a concern.</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>If there were some countries that had that concern, that would be understandable if it put their students at risk. </p>
<p>Likely not all countries would have that concern because there are countries that have a lot of “back and forth” of visitors so introduction of other diseases has already occurred. The concern would likely be between countries that have little “back and forth”.</p>
<p>It’s also possible this was not an international student, but a US student who traveled overseas over the Spring Break (for family travel or organized Break trip) and returned with the disease.</p>
<p>that’s true, too. </p>
<p>Remember when we had the first moon landings? When the astronauts returned they had to be quarantined for awhile to make sure that they weren’t bringing back some disease? (not suggesting that we should quarantine students…lol)</p>
<p>Lets not start ridiculous, wild accusations. As was said above, NJ law requires all students living in university housing in New Jersey to receive a meningitis vaccination. Accordingly, if students from countries where this strain is more prevalent come to Princeton, its likely they had the vaccine that covers this strain of bacteria.</p>
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<p>From the World Health Organization. It isn’t like we don’t have the B strain occurring already in the US. And some countries (the UK, for example) appear to be ahead of us in vaccinating for this strain – makes sense, since the vaccine isn’t approved for use in the US yet. Maybe it is the US students who ought to be quarantined instead until we routinely vaccinate against this strain.</p>
<p>Bexsero only gained approval in Australia at the end of this past August, and has not yet been approved in the UK.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/1578443-princeton-taking-extraordinary-steps-combat-meningitis-outbreak.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/1578443-princeton-taking-extraordinary-steps-combat-meningitis-outbreak.html</a></p>
<p>From the Novartis August 15, 2013 press release:</p>
<p>Bexsero safety and efficacy have been shown through clinical trials involving more than 8,000 people including infants, children, adolescents and adults</p>
<p>Princeton University population numbers close to that 8,000 number. A US clinical trial of sorts?</p>
<p>And then this gem also in the press release:</p>
<p>Bexsero is not expected to provide protection against all circulating meningococcal group B strains.</p>
<p>Bummer. I was just gonna ask the folks on the investment and speculation thread if they were gonna buy/recommend novartis…</p>
<p>Princeton expects to administer the first of 2 doses in Dec. They will cover all costs.</p>
<p>[CDC</a> - Meningococcal - Serogroup B Meningococcal Vaccine Questions and Answers](<a href=“http://www.cdc.gov/meningococcal/vaccine-serogroupB.html]CDC”>http://www.cdc.gov/meningococcal/vaccine-serogroupB.html)</p>