Free Antibiotics Draw Hundreds Parents Bring Children To Clinic For Anti-Meningitis Drug After Reports Of Life-Threatening Illness

Braving Sunday’s ice-slick roads, hundreds of parents brought their children to Betty Kiefer Elementary School for anti-meningitis drugs.

“I want to take every precaution available,” said Trudy Moss, a Rathdrum loan processor who brought her 8-year-old daughter.

School and health officials are offering free antibiotics to all students at the school, where two girls were recently diagnosed with meningitis.

So many people showed up for Sunday’s clinic that health workers ran out of Rifampin capsules, leaving only the less-popular liquid form of the antibiotic.

There have been five cases of the potentially life-threatening illness reported in North Idaho since October.

A second and final clinic will be held at the school today from 8-11 a.m.

“I’ll bet we won’t have that many people tomorrow,” Marie Rau, public health nursing supervisor for Panhandle Health District, predicted Sunday. “I think we’ve seen most of them today.”

Out of a possible 460 students and 40 or so school employees, “several hundred” showed up Sunday, Rau said. Officials weren’t sure of the exact number.

“Like that Kenny Rogers song says, we don’t count till the dealing’s done,” said Rau, handing out another bottle of Rifampin, the antibiotic. Although there is no vaccine for the strain of meningitis that cropped up at the school, the Rifampin will kill the bacteria that cause meningitis.

Parents waiting in line were surprised to hear that the relatively rare infection had cropped up locally.

“It’s one of the things that you hear about, but it’s never here. Now it’s here,” said Rathdrum’s Ernie Hunt, who brought in his 7-year-old daughter. He wishes the drug was being given to everyone in Rathdrum.

“It’s like the whooping cough,” said Sam Tipton, a tow-truck driver from Hauser, Idaho. “Everyone thought that was cured, but now it’s showing up.”

Tipton brought in his 7-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son.

“It’s unfortunate enough that a couple kids got it,” he said. “We don’t need a whole epidemic on our hands.”

Further back in line, Tom Radcliffe brought in his 10-year-old daughter. The Hauser resident said he developed meningitis as a young man.

“It was just like the flu but with a headache that wouldn’t go away,” he said. He was sick for three weeks, with one week in the hospital.

Without knowing it, many people carry the bacteria that cause meningitis in their throats. It is unclear why some people are infected, while most are not. Symptoms are fever, chills, headache or vomiting, often accompanied by a stiff neck or rash. The illness is especially hazardous to toddlers and infants.

Midway through the afternoon clinic, Rau handed a bottle of the drug to a girl in line, who eyed it warily.

“Can I come to school tomorrow?” the girl asked.

“You’d better come to school tomorrow,” chuckled Rau. “Nice try, though.”

, DataTimes