{"id":28720,"date":"2014-01-23T16:45:43","date_gmt":"2014-01-23T23:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stage.headlessnauedu-b6hgdzckfdgxgzhe.westus-01.azurewebsites.net\/?p=28720"},"modified":"2014-01-23T17:19:34","modified_gmt":"2014-01-24T00:19:34","slug":"questions-and-answers-meningitis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/questions-and-answers-meningitis\/","title":{"rendered":"Questions and answers about meningitis"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is bacterial meningitis?
\n<\/strong>Meningitis is an infection of the fluid of a person\u2019s spinal cord and the fluid that surrounds the brain.<\/em><\/p>\n

How can you contract bacterial meningitis?<\/strong>
\nA person may acquire bacterial meningitis from an infected person through close, direct contact. Generally this refers to individuals who have prolonged contact of more than eight hours and are in close proximity, or who have been directly exposed to the individual\u2019s oral secretions between one week before the onset of symptoms until 24 hours after initiation of antibiotic therapy. Such individuals include household members, roommates and intimate contacts.<\/p>\n

This disease is not spread through casual contact like hand shaking or sitting next to someone.<\/p>\n

What are the symptoms of bacterial meningitis?<\/strong>
\nSymptoms may resemble the flu, including high fever, severe headache, stiff neck, rash, nausea and vomiting. These symptoms can develop over several hours, or they may take one to two days. Other symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, discomfort looking into bright lights, confusion and sleepiness. As the disease progresses, patients of any age may have seizures.<\/p>\n

What should I do if I am experiencing these symptoms?<\/strong>
\nImmediately contact your health care provider or go to the nearest emergency room or urgent care facility.<\/p>\n

Is there a vaccine available, and where can I get it?<\/strong>
\nThere is a vaccine available that may provide some immunity against the illness. If you would like to take this precaution against the disease, visit NAU\u2019s Campus Health Services<\/a> or contact the Coconino County Health Services District<\/a>\u00a0or your medical provider.<\/p>\n

The vaccine is available at Campus Health Services during business hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday. The cost is $130, and is covered by most insurance providers. Students can put the vaccine on their LOUIE account; they do not need money up front. Contact the Coconino County Health Services District<\/a>\u00a0if you are uninsured and cannot afford the vaccine.<\/p>\n

Is the vaccination safe? Are there any adverse side effects?<\/strong>
\nVisit the Centers for Disease Control\u00a0website<\/a>\u00a0for more information on the vaccine and possible side effects.<\/p>\n

Is this related to another case in Coconino County?<\/strong>
\nCoconino County Health Services District reports there are no other cases at this time. The last case reported at NAU was in 2013.<\/p>\n

Are you notifying the classmates of the infected student?<\/strong>
\nThe patient\u2019s close friends and contacts have been personally notified. All NAU students are being contacted through email.<\/p>\n

Bacterial meningitis is not spread through casual contact, and the possibility of getting it through surface contact (tables, sinks, etc.) is medically insignificant.<\/p>\n

Why is the vaccine not mandated by NAU?<\/strong>
\nAlthough meningitis can be a serious and life-threatening disease, it is relatively rare. NAU provides educational information to incoming students and their parents about the risks of meningitis and the benefits of the vaccine. Because of the rarity of the disease and the expense of the vaccine, the university has left the decision to receive the vaccine to be made by the student and\/or parents.<\/p>\n

Where do I get more information?<\/strong>
\nFor information, visit the Campus Health Services\u00a0website<\/a>, Coconino County Public Health Services District\u00a0website<\/a>\u00a0or the national Centers for Disease Control\u00a0website<\/a>. NAU also has set up a temporary call center which can be reached on the NAU Now Line at (928) 523-0007.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is bacterial meningitis? Meningitis is an infection of the fluid of a person\u2019s spinal cord and the fluid that surrounds the brain. How can you contract bacterial meningitis? A person may acquire bacterial meningitis from an infected person through close, direct contact. Generally this refers to individuals who have prolonged contact of more than…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campus-community"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28720\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}