Meningitis Kills Cda Teenager Parents Advised To Watch Out For Symptoms
A Coeur d’Alene High School senior died Tuesday after contracting bacterial meningitis.
Chances are slim that Briana Ross’ classmates will contract the disease, health officials said. While it is potentially deadly, meningitis usually is spread through close physical contact.
“She just got real sick over the weekend, and they took her in,” said Principal Steve Casey. “It’s very scary.”
Earlier this year, meningitis killed a 15-year-old Wieppe, Idaho, boy and forced amputation of the legs of a University of Idaho student from Nampa, Idaho.
Ross died at 1:30 p.m. at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane. Her family did not wish to discuss her illness.
Among those who will miss her are two best friends who worked beside her at Schlotzsky’s Deli here.
“She’s a cheerful personality, kind of a cut-up. A fun, fun kid,” said deli manager Lynn Alexander. “She’ll be greatly missed.”
A few employees who had worked closely with Ross in the last couple of days were given antibiotics as a precaution, Alexander said.
At Coeur d’Alene High School on Tuesday, Casey sent fliers home with students, informing their families about the small risk of infection. Parents were advised to watch for such symptoms as fever, rash, tiredness, irritability, headache, loss of appetite and vomiting.
People who are going to get sick from the disease usually show symptoms in three to four days, health officials said. However, the incubation time can be as little as two days or as long as 10 days after exposure.
The Coeur d’Alene student would have been most contagious between Sept. 15 and Sept. 23, according to Marie Rau of the Panhandle Health District.
Rau was fielding a lot of questions about the disease on Tuesday.
“There’s always a fine line between information and panic,” she said about parents who were calling. “They need to be concerned enough to pay attention (to symptoms).”
The last meningitis cases in North Idaho were reported in late 1995, according to the Panhandle Health District. All six people recovered. Only two of those cases may have been related.
Spokane County’s first cases of bacterial meningitis for 1996 were reported in the past two weeks, said Dr. Paul Stepak of the county health district. The disease struck an elderly woman and a young woman.
“Both essentially dodged the bullet. They were ill, they were hospitalized, they were treated with antibiotics,” Stepak said. “None of the big, bad things that can happen, happened.”
If left untreated, or not treated soon enough, meningitis can cut off circulation to the limbs, cause strokes and other damage to the central nervous system, Stepak said.
The bacteria is common, Stepak said. Ten to 15 percent of people carry it in their throats but suffer no symptoms of disease. Illness may arise from a new strain of bacteria, or unusual susceptibility in the person who’s exposed.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo