Ten days after a Penn student was hospitalized with of bacterial meningitis, Student Health Service officials say the patient is in stable condition and no longer in the hospital.
"The patient is doing well," SHS Director Evelyn Wiener said. "The student is awake, alert."
No other cases of bacterial meningitis have been reported at Penn, and Wiener said it is unlikely that any other cases related to the original outbreak will develop at this point.
The student was admitted to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania on Sunday, April 17, after showing symptoms on April 16.
About five students -- identified by the patient -- at risk for contracting meningitis were contacted by SHS and treated with antibiotics. Those five students named additional at-risk individuals, who were also treated.
"We're not going to take chances," Wiener said. "We will, in those circumstances, provide [antibiotics] if someone gives us a history that suggests exposure."
Bacterial meningitis -- fatal in about 15 percent of treated cases -- is an infection of the lining of the brain and spinal cord.
Wiener said SHS has seen a larger-than-usual number of students worried about symptoms of meningitis -- including fever, severe headache and vomiting.
"It is not unusual in this situation for us to see a flurry of students coming in who are concerned because they may be experiencing various symptoms," Wiener said.
The hospitalized student had been vaccinated against meningitis and was likely infected by a strain not protected against by the vaccine.
SHS officials say the University's vaccination requirement -- which mandates that all incoming freshmen be immunized against meningitis, unless they are exempted for health or religious reasons -- is one of the strictest in the country.
Most students, therefore, are well-protected against most types of meningitis.
But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now recommends a new vaccine -- approved in January of 2005 -- for all incoming college freshmen that may protect them against meningitis for life.
The new vaccine -- which carries the brand name Menactra -- is less expensive and may be effective for infants.
By contrast, the present vaccine only lasts three to five years and therefore is generally only administered to college students.
Menactra only protects against the same types of meningitis as the current vaccine, however.
Wiener said Penn may force freshmen to get the new vaccine in future years, but because it was approved so recently, it is not required for freshmen entering this fall.
"It makes a lot of sense to use the newer vaccine," said HUP Director of Health Care Epidemiology and Infection Control Neil Fishman, who works with Wiener to formulate Penn's immunization policies. "My guess is they will phase out the old vaccine eventually."
