UC not likely to implement act on meningitis awareness

By Chris Goodmacher and Robert
Salonga
Daily Bruin Staff

The University of California will most likely not adopt a bill
signed Monday by Gov. Gray Davis to increase awareness of
meningitis in state colleges and universities, according to a
university spokeswoman.

Assembly Bill 1452, authored by Assembly Minority Leader Dave
Cox, R-Fair Oaks, requires the Department of Health Services to
develop specified meningococcal disease, otherwise known as
meningitis, information and make it available to school districts,
colleges and universities.

But the bill exempts the UC from compliance unless the regents
agree by resolution, said James Fisfis, press secretary for
Cox.

University officials said it is not likely that the UC will
approve the bill, because the system is already in compliance with
it.

“We already notify students of meningitis following
guidelines provided by the Center for Disease Control and
Prevention,” said Mary Spletter, spokeswoman for the UC
Office of the President.

She said the UC reaches CDCP compliance by providing “a
flyer or presentation at orientation.”

Though other schools in the state will benefit from increased
awareness of the disease, Spletter said, the bill is unnecessary
for the UC.

“It would be redundant for the regents to act on it since
we are already taking care of this,” she said.

Meningitis is a blood disease that inflames the tissues which
cover the brain and spinal cord. It can be transferred by bacteria
or virus through physical contact.

The bill, Fisfis said, was written in response to recent
meningitis deaths in Sacramento and at the University of Southern
California.

In addition, State Senator Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, who
co-authored the bill, experienced a meningitis outbreak in his
district, where one high school and one elementary student
died.

Robert Oakes, press secretary for Torlakson, said the bill was
necessary because meningitis is not a widely publicized
disease.

“With meningitis, the sooner you pinpoint the outbreak and
the sooner you get the vaccinations, the sooner you can stop
it,” Oakes said.

Two University of Southern California students died of
meningitis, one in March 2000 and another in February of this
year.

The only reported case at UCLA occurred in 1989, according to
Evi Deffer, a nurse practitioner at the Arthur Ashe Student Health
and Wellness Center.

The average incidence of bacterial meningitis among Americans is
about one in 100,000. The risk for college freshmen living in close
proximity, though, is about three to four times higher, according
to a CDCP study.

Deffer said that close living conditions, lack of sleep,
smoking, drinking and poor hygiene can increase the likelihood of
contracting the disease.

“Anytime the immune system is suppressed, you’re
more likely to come down with something,” Deffer said.

The CDCP reported 83 cases of meningitis in 1999 on college
campuses, six of which were fatal.

Meningitis immunization shots are available at the Ashe Center
for $78 and are covered by the student insurance plan. Though
Deffer recommends students living in the dorms be immunized, she
said the disease is “still very rare.”