An eighth student at Princeton University has been diagnosed with meningitis, the university said on Friday.
An eighth student at Princeton University has been diagnosed with meningitis, the university said on Friday.
In an email to students, Cynthia Cherrey, Vice President for Campus Life, wrote that the female student developed symptoms on Wednesday night and went to the university’s McCosh Health Center, from where she was taken to an undisclosed local hospital on Thursday. “Health officials will be conducting tests to determine if this latest case is related to the seven cases of meningitis associated with the university since March,” she wrote. “The previous cases were caused by meningococcal bacteria known as serotype B.”
There is no vaccine available in this country for the type B meningitis, which prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to get permission last week from the Food and Drug Administration to import Bexsero, made in Italy, for this special case only.
The university said Thursday that it could not project “at this point” how many of its students will need to get the meningitis vaccine that will be administered early next month.
The school has 5,264 undergraduates and 550 graduate students who live in dorms, two of the population groups the federal government recommended should get the shot of Bexsero.
The vaccine will be given on a voluntary basis, although students under the age of 18 must get a parent or guardian to sign a permission slip.
The first inoculation, scheduled for early December, will take place on more than one day.
”We’re still working on that,” said university spokesman Martin A. Mbugua, when asked what the dates would be.
The school is scheduled to go on Christmas break on Dec.13, with students returning Jan. 5.
A second inoculation will be in February. The vaccine requires two doses for maximum protection.
Since March, the university has had seven previous cases of meningococcal disease: six students and a campus visitor. In all seven, the same bacteria strain, type b, has been involved.
The meningitis outbreak has not spread beyond the campus into the community. There have been no public health advisories to avoid going on campus.