Meningitis: Why Pre-College Immunizations Should Be the Law of the Land

Time and time again, I have heard the story of an otherwise seemingly healthy college girl, 20, who goes home to visit family and suddenly dies at home. It makes me so sad. Sad for the family, because of the loss of a loved one in the bloom of life. Heartbroken for any significant other, because I know how I would feel if I were to lose my beautiful young wife that way. There is a disease sweeping our college campuses nationwide, and it is killing our young people at alarming rates. People are dying, and while drives at campuses such as Western Michigan University are increasing awareness of meningitis and the inoculations against the disease that now exist, I think it is only a start.

There are different kinds of meningitis. According to Wikipedia.com, meningitis is a disease characterised by inflammation of the protective tissues of the brain and spinal cord, called meninges. While some forms of meningitis are contracted and do pass away, either on their own or with medication--bacterial meningitis, by far, is the most serious and deadly. There is a small window of treatment, and once this window closes, death is almost always the result. According to www.elon/edu, in 87% of the cases, severe headache is by far the most common, followed by neck stiffness at 83%. Other patients have reported symptoms such as fever, altered consciousness, and intolerance to loud sounds or bright light. Yet others have complained of vomiting, headache, high temperatures, bone and joint pain, and seizures.

The problem is that sometimes doctors--whom we are supposed to trust to be in the know--examine these people and send them home. "It's only the flu. You'll be fine." That's it--take some TheraFlu and then call me in the morning. Next! But something happens: Instead of the patient improving, he or she gets worse. And then the next thing you know, the student is dead.