Opinion | Editorial
Living the Good Life
March 23, 2008 - 11:00pmThis month’s on-campus outbreak of bacterial meningitis came as a surprise to the Cornell community. The infection is low on the watch-list of most college students, already preoccupied with a host of academic and extracurricular pressures.
Meningitis, though, is no stranger to the ivory tower, affecting a disproportionate number of college students every year. According to statistics from the American College Health Association, young people between the ages of 15 and 24 represent 30 percent of all reported cases of bacterial meningitis in the United States. From sleep deprivation to poor eating habits, college students are putting themselves at especial risk for infection.
The lifestyle of an undergraduate may be rooted in the pressures of the classroom, but the health risks of that lifestyle must be taken seriously. If nothing else, the appearance of meningitis on campus this month should remind all Cornellians that they are not immune to the consequences of unhealthy living.
Indeed, those consequences are especially manifest on a college campus, where the infection of one student can easily mean the infection of an entire classroom. The Cornell campus fosters interaction that is both intimate and widespread, hosting thousands of students in a close-knit living and learning community. Cornellians can take pride in their campus community, but they must also be aware of the health risks around them.
It may have taken an infection like meningitis to get us thinking about on-campus health, but healthy living is about more than just the avoidance of fatal disease. In the high-pressure and high-activity world of a college campus, diet, exercise and sleep are often abandoned by the end of freshman year. As Prof. Maas will gladly tell you, that’s just not the right way to live.
For health issues in need of more than diet and exercise, Cornellians are fortunate to enjoy the attention of doctors and nurses at Gannett. The health center is here for a reason, and students should never be afraid to use it. We may be annoyed by the long lines and the requisite pregnancy tests, but a healthy campus is well worth the wait.
Along with the students themselves, this University has a responsibility to maintain the health of the campus community. Cornell tends to do a good job in that department, which is why we’re still slightly baffled by the almost week-long gap between the first reported case of meningitis and the official University alert of an on-campus infection. Cornell may have notified individuals with an overt connection to the infected student, but on a campus like ours, one case of meningitis is relevant to the entire university community.
This month’s on-campus health scare was a bad way to kick off spring break, but it served as a valuable reminder about the importance of campus health. Cornell is an interconnected environment, and we, along with the University itself, are all responsible to keep our community safe. As the work starts piling up and the pressure begins to mount, everyone on campus can still make time to maintain their own health and the health of those around them. After all, on-campus safety is about more than just violence and firearms.
Meningitis
My beautiful, smart, loving 20-year old son died in one night from bacterial meningitis. He was a student at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Our lives will never be the same without our son. I still don't understand why this killing disease is not talked about more! Every parent needs to be aware of this killer disease on college campuses. We knew nothing about this disease, but both of our boys had every vaccine for childhood. I was so overprotective of them, never wanting anything bad or hurtful to happen to them.
My Eddy, 6'4, collapsed in his apartment and died in front of his roommates. Please get the vaccination for this horrible disease.
Meningitis Prevention and Education
The Meningitis Foundation of America (MFA), a national organization, would like the public and media to know that information is available regarding the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of meningitis. MFA was founded by parents whose children were affected by meningitis. In addition to supporting vaccines and other means of preventing meningitis, the MFA provides information to educate the public and medical professionals so that the early diagnosis, treatment and, most important, prevention of meningitis, will save lives.
Meningitis is a dangerous and sometimes fatal inflammation of the brain and/or spinal cord that can leave survivors with serious life-long physical problems such as deafness, brain damage and other disabilities. Complications from bacterial meningitis can sometimes result in loss of limbs.
MFA has many spokespersons available. If you would like to arrange an interview with a spokesperson please call Jamie Callahan, General Manager of the MFA. A MFA press kit and, for television producers, b-roll footage is available upon request. For further information, visit the MFA website at www.musa.org.
Thank you,
Ms. Jamie Callahan, General Manager
Meningitis Foundation of America
6610 North Shadeland Ave.
Suite 220
Indianapolis, IN 46220
(800) 668-1129 ext.7
jcallahan@musa.org
Meningitis
Too many infants, teens, kids and young adults are left debilitated or die from this vaccine preventable disease.
I am the mother of an only child, Ryan, who died from meningitis and the founder and executive director of a national organization Meningitis Angels,
www.meningitis-angels.org.
What is meningitis?
Meningitis is a dangerous and sometimes fatal inflammation of the brain and/or spinal cord that can leave survivors with serious life-long physical problems such as, organ failure, blindness, deafness, loss of limbs, severe seizures, brain damage and other disabilities.
You should also understand meningococcemia and sepsis.
Signs and Symptoms
Do you know the early signs of meningitis and blood poisoning which could improve detection of the disease and save lives?
Unrelenting fever, leg pain, cold hands and feet and abnormal skin color can develop within (12 hours) after infection long before the more classic signs of the illness such as a rash, headache, stiff neck, sensitivity to light and impaired consciousness, debilitation or death. Anyone can get meningitis especially infants, children and teens.
What parents and students should know:
According to ACIP/CDC children ages (11) years through college freshmen should be vaccinated against meningococcal meningitis. The current vaccines are approved for ages (2) years and older. However be informed, there are (5) sero-groups of the disease, all sero-groups are not covered. However the most common in the United States among adolescents and college students is sero-group C and Y, which are.
Infants and toddlers should be vaccinated against pneumococcal meningitis.
Those children in daycare and those of American Indian and African American heritage are at a higher risk for pneumococcal meningitis.
There is no vaccine to prevent viral meningitis
.
Frankie Milley, Meningitis Angels, Founder/National Director.
Ryan's Mom