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TV Program Description
Original PBS Broadcast Date: September 3, 2002
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For a small but growing number of college students, the
undergraduate experience now may include a close brush with one of
the most frightening infections on the planet: meningococcal
disease. Long known as an illness of early childhood, meningococcal
disease has doubled among teenagers and young adults in the United
States during the last decade, striking college freshmen in
particular. The increase has been even more alarming in other
countries.
This program highlights one little-known protective measure that
people can take—a vaccine that provides immunity against four
of the five major types of meningococcal bacteria.
Most at risk from the disease are children under five and those from
15 to 24 years of age. College students living in dorms, especially
during their first year, have a higher incidence than non-students
and those living in less-congested quarters.
"Given the close quarters of freshman dorms, multiple strains of the
bacteria being brought by carriers from various areas of the country
or even the world, and the potential for a compromised immune system
that first-year college students can experience from late-night
partying, exhaustion, and respiratory infections, the risk for
meningococcal disease is significantly heightened," says James C.
Turner, M.D., Executive Director of Student Health Services at the
University of Virginia.
Meningococcal bacteria reside harmlessly in the back of the throat
in about ten percent of all adults. Only when the bacteria
infiltrate the bloodstream—for reasons still
unclear—does trouble begin.
Meningococcal disease is notorious for the speed with which it
attacks. The program probes several cases at Michigan State
University, where sophomore Adam Busuttil felt fine one evening and
hours later was fighting for his life. He survived with tissue
damage to his fingers and toes, which required amputation. Jeffrey
Paga, also of Michigan State, was not so lucky. His parents got a
midnight call from a roommate saying Jeffrey had a flu-like illness
and had taken painkillers and gone to bed. He was dead by morning.
The program also covers cases in England and New Zealand, where an
upsurge in meningococcal disease is being treated as a public health
emergency.
Often incorrectly called meningitis, meningococcal disease can take
several forms, only one of which is actually meningitis. In cases of
meningococcal meningitis, the bacteria enter the lining of the brain
and spinal cord, causing dangerous swelling. Though extremely
serious, this infection has a death rate of only five percent
compared with up to 40 percent for the form of the disease called
meningococcal septicemia. In these cases, the bacteria multiply
rapidly in the bloodstream, producing a deadly poison that quickly
destroys small blood vessels and damages the heart and other organs.
Death can come in just hours, as happened to Paga.
With about 3,000 cases a year in the United States, meningococcal
disease is still relatively rare. Nonetheless, it is every parent's
worst nightmare. "We're talking about a disease that could happen to
any of our kids at any given time," says Dr. Brett Giroir of the
Children's Medical Center of Dallas. "When you leave in the morning,
your child is fine, and by the time you come home from work your
child could be dead. That's pretty frightening."
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