By Rebecca Erekson
Despite doctors? efforts to save the 16 year-old high school student, Madeline Hales passed away Monday from a severe bacterial infection.
?It?s sad but it?s going to be okay,? said Melissa Schmidt, Hales? cousin and a pre-nursing major at BYU. ?Her parents are very strong. It?s devastating because it is so unexpected.?
Hales was involved in the school as a cheerleader, an honors student and an actress. Last week she missed a few days of school.
Hales was at Primary Children?s Hospital last week with flu-like symptoms where she was diagnosed with a less severe illness said Bonnie Midget, media relations coordinator for Primary Children?s Hospital.
?As the doctors look at the symptoms she came in with, they have no reason to think that she had meningococcemia,? Midget said. ?We think they were two separate issues. We may never know for sure.?
Last Saturday, Hales? condition worsened. She collapsed and was admitted to the hospital in critical condition, said Kate Connelly a University of Utah nursing student, whose sister was Hales? close friend.
Doctors diagnosed Hales with meningococcemia, which is caused by bacteria that can result in the disease meningitis. By the time she was admitted to the hospital and the illness was identified, her case was very serious.
?It was very advanced,? Midget said. ?She was in critical condition. There are a variety of treatments and she had everything that was available ? unfortunately we were not able to save her life,? Midget said. Hales? friends and family haven?t had time to accept and grieve her loss because it was so unexpected.
The illness develops very quickly into a severe condition in a relatively short amount of time.
?It?s within hours that they can be pretty fine to full shock and there?s not a lot of warning,? said Ronald Day a Pediatric Cardiologist at Primary Children?s Hospital.
The disease is often misdiagnosed.
?It?s easy for someone in a busy emergency room to dismiss a patient with flu symptoms,? Day said.
Symptoms of the disease include: a severe headache or backache, achy joints, mental status deteriorates and sufferers can?t touch their chin to their chest.
The disease is contagious and the Salt Lake City Health Department can determine if someone is at risk by the amount of contact they have had with the a victim of the disease. Some of Hales? classmates are taking antibiotics to prevent the disease from spreading.
Hales? classmates are also uniting together in the grieving process of their friend.
A government advisory panel that convened last week recommended all college freshmen living in dorms should receive a new meningitis vaccine.
The new vaccine, Menactra, lasts more than eight years instead of only three to five years like the other meningitis vaccine and prevents people from becoming carriers of the bacteria. College students are at a high risk for contracting meningitis due to living in close quarters with other people.
The Center for Disease Control told the Associated Press college freshmen living in dorms are six times more likely than other people to be infected with meningitis, totaling 5.1 cases per 100,000 students.
?It is worth getting the vaccine because there have been a lot of meningitis cases reported,? said Phillip Keif, FDA Consumer Affairs Representative. ?The Menactra vaccine was recently approved in January. With two vaccines out, there will be plenty of supplies available for vaccinations.?
In September 1997, the American College Health Association released a statement recommending ?college health services [take] a more proactive role in alerting students and their parents about the dangers of meningococcal disease,? and that ?colleges and universities ensure all students have access to a vaccination program for those who want to be vaccinated.?
The Utah Department of Health reported 90 cases of meningitis in the past 10 years.
Susan Mottice, Epidemiologist at the Utah Department of Health, said when a meningitis case is diagnosed, the Health Department identifies those close to the person, such as those living in tight quarters or who might have shared food or utensils with the person. Close contacts are given antibiotics.
Faith Hoenstine of Imler, Pa. contracted meningitis at age 14. She told the Associated Press she thought she had the flu but her condition worsened. After six months in the hospital, doctors amputated both her legs above the knee, her left arm above the elbow and the fingers in her right hand.
?Don?t take a chance, get the vaccine,? urged Hoenstine, now 18 and a freshman at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, Pa. ?If there?s anything you can do to prevent something from happening to yourself, why not do it??
SIDE BAR INFO:
The CDC web site states ?meningitis is an infection of the fluid of a person”s spinal cord and the fluid that surrounds the brain.? It is spread through personal contact such as sneezing, coughing, kissing and sharing utensils. Symptoms of meningitis include a high fever, a headache and a stiff neck. Other symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, discomfort looking into bright lights, confusion and sleepiness. Seizures may occur as the disease progresses.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/meningococcal_g.htm
