Woman, Boy Infected With Deadly Disease
A 20-year-old Lewiston woman has been confirmed as suffering from meningococcemia, the same infection of the bloodstream that killed a 15-year-old Weippe boy earlier this year and forced a University of Idaho student to have her legs amputated.
A 6-month-old Clarkston, Wash., baby also is believed to have the disease. The infant is hospitalized in Richland, Wash.
The woman is doing well, health officials said, and the baby’s condition also is believed to be good because of early treatment.
They bring to nine the number of cases reported in north central Idaho and Asotin County, Wash., this year.
These two cases, unlike the others, are believed to be related.
The woman and the baby’s mother are friends and there has been physical contact between the woman and infant, said Alice Vollbrecht, health district epidemiologist in Lewiston.
A test that would have verified that the two carried the same infection is not possible because antibiotics were given to the infant when doctors suspected the disease, said Phyllis Smith of the Asotin County Health District in Clarkston. The antibiotics would affect the test results, she said.
The woman had a bronchial ailment as early as July 4, and that may have caused some breaks in tissue that allowed the meningococcus bacteria to get into her bloodstream, Smith said.
She developed symptoms last week and went into the hospital on Friday. The baby was hospitalized a day later.
If treated quickly, particularly within the first 24 hours, the disease generally can be cured with antibiotics specific to meningitis, Smith said.
“It’s only a small number that end up bad,” she said.
Health departments in both states spent much of the weekend locating people who had been in contact with the families to make sure they received preventive medication, the nurses said.
Symptoms include fever, chills, intense headache, confusion, mental dullness, nausea, sometimes vomiting, a stiff neck and sometimes severe joint pain.
The symptoms appear suddenly and worsen rapidly. If untreated, it is fatal between 40 percent and 50 percent of the time. Even when treated, it’s fatal in about 10 percent of the cases.
Andy Moore of Weippe died in May after fighting the disease for three months.
UI student Erin Nielson, who also was diagnosed with the disease in February, lost both legs and the tip of one finger. She returned to her Nampa home in May.
“There are probably few diseases, and rightfully so, that raise such concern among health care professionals and parents because it’s so scary and because of what happened to Erin and Andy,” said physician Jesse Greenblatt, Idaho state epidemiologist.
The bacteria is carried in the nose and throats of humans and is spread by coughing and sneezing. Many people carry the bacteria without getting the disease.
, DataTimes