UI Student Loses Her Legs After Getting Meningitis Donations Also Help Boy Who Is Fighting The Bacterial Illness

A 19-year-old University of Idaho student stricken with bacterial meningitis has lost both her legs.

Erin Nielson’s legs were removed Tuesday, and she probably also will have to have some fingers amputated, said her father, Taylor Nielson.

She’s one of at least seven North Idaho residents to have been struck by the bacteria outbreak this winter. Meningitis killed an Okanogan, Wash., man last month.

The Nampa woman was flown to the University Hospital in Salt Lake City last Thursday. She had been at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane since shortly after contracting the illness Feb. 25.

Erin Nielson was moved because Spokane has no burn center to perform the skin grafting necessary for her treatment. Her father said he did not know how long his daughter would be hospitalized.

Her condition had improved enough that doctors initially thought she might be able to walk by now.

But while her internal organs appear to be fine, she lost about 85 percent of the skin below her waist and has gone through some skin grafting, Taylor Nielson said.

Meanwhile, more than $12,000 has been raised by friends of a 15-year-old Weippe boy struggling with the same illness. The money will go into the Aid Association for Lutherans fund at the local First Security Bank in Andy Moore’s name.

Moore, who was diagnosed with the disease Feb. 23, went through additional surgery Monday to have more tissue removed from his legs, said Don Blain, pastor of the Wesleyan Church. His internal organs were checked and have survived the disease well, Blain said.

Moore had the lower portion of both his legs amputated Feb. 28 at Sacred Heart Medical Center. He was moved March 5 to the burn center at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and was scheduled for more surgery on Friday, Blain said.

Bacterial meningitis is an inflammation of the lining around the brain and spinal cord. It often is accompanied by an infection of the bloodstream. That causes damage to some of the soft tissue in the body and can lead to the blood supply being cut off to those areas, requiring that they be removed.

Some 200 people were treated with antibiotics in and around the UI as a result of Nielson’s case.

The incubation period for the bacteria is short and the virus is more likely to take root in the young and elderly as well as those with weakened immune systems.

The disease is spread through the nose and mouth.

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