States push vaccination.(Brief Article)

2002 SEP 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- It started like a mere stomach bug: John Kach felt fine one day but spent the next throwing up. By day's end the 19-year-old college freshman was in a coma - and spent almost 4 months in the hospital, surviving only after doctors amputated one foot and all his fingers and toes.

Patrick Kepferle wasn't so lucky. The freshman at Towson University in Maryland died less than 24 hours after the first symptom.

This is bacterial meningitis. While rare, it can sicken and kill with terrifying swiftness. And college freshmen who live in dormitories are one of the prime targets.

Now some states have begun mandating that most students who live on campus get vaccinated against meningococcal meningitis - and a group of mothers is making public their children's battles with the infection in hopes that even more students will get the often-ignored shot that costs $65 to $85.

"One of these sweet children walking onto campus their freshman year may never catch it, but yours could be the one," said Paige Kach of Carmel, N.Y., whose son was infected while at Rhode Island's Salve Regina University. "Why as a mother would you ever take that chance?"

It can be a tough sell. Many people have never heard of this tough-to-pronounce form of meningitis. Many primary care physicians don't carry the shot, leaving busy students to track it down at campus health centers, and to pay out of pocket for it.

About 3000 Americans a year get meningococcal meningitis, a contagious bacterial infection of the membranes around the brain and spinal cord. About 300 of them die, and another 450 who survive suffer permanent disabilities including lost limbs, deafness or mental retardation.