Did you know that there is a disease that could kill you within hours of contracting it ““ and could leave you brain damaged or an amputee if you managed to survive?
Allow me to introduce you to bacterial meningitis, an infection that landed two Texas A&M University students in the hospital in “very serious condition” last week. This situation would have likely been prevented if Texas A&M made meningitis vaccinations mandatory for its incoming classes ““ a policy the University of California should enact immediately.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ““ the CDC ““ meningitis is an infection of the fluid surrounding the spinal chord and brain.
Although not as contagious as the flu, bacterial meningitis can still be spread through coughing, kissing or sharing drinking cups or cigarettes.
Because of this, freshmen who live in dormitories are classified by the CDC as being at a particularly “high risk” for contracting meningitis.
As someone who has lived in the cubicles that UCLA tries to pass off as dorm rooms, I know firsthand how limited personal space is in the residence halls. I was never more than a foot away from my two roommates and we often shared beverages and food ““ not to mention the floor-wide bathrooms and showers.
It’s easy to see how your average college dorm resident would be much more likely than the average person to pick up any sort of contagion.
Unlike an annoying floor-wide cold, however, meningitis is deadly, though completely treatable if caught early. What makes meningitis so terrifying is that nearly all of its symptoms mimic that of a common flu. By the time the distressed patient’s symptoms become so worrisome he or she seeks medical attention, the infection may have already become deadly.
The vaccine, properly known as the meningococcal vaccine, guards against two of the three types of meningitis in the US, and protects 90 percent of those who receive it, according to the CDC, which recommends that all people between the ages of 11 and 18, as well as college dorm dwellers, get vaccinated.
Yet most students I’ve spoken with don’t even know what meningitis is and, therefore, never get vaccinated because they’re not required to.
It is for this reason that University of California should make the vaccine mandatory for all incoming students. Simply spreading awareness will not be sufficient motivation for students to seek out the vaccine on their own.
When proposing a mandatory vaccine, people generally bristle at the thought of being told what to do with their bodies.
Yet choosing not to get a meningitis vaccine not only puts you at risk, but your whole community, since meningitis is contagious ““ even to some of those who have already been vaccinated. Rachel Futterman, a University of Southern Florida sophomore who received the vaccine her freshman year, died of meningitis just last month.
Additionally, the risk associated with the vaccine is no greater than your average required inoculation and can even be given to pregnant women. The CDC reports the risk of “serious” side effects, such as harm or death, as “extremely small.”
The risk seems a great deal more insignificant when you consider that one in every four adolescents infected with meningitis will die, and 20 percent of survivors will be left with permanent disabilities, according to ABC News. The report also added that a “majority” of meningitis cases are “vaccine-preventable.”
Before you begin panicking, however, keep in mind that bacterial meningitis is relatively uncommon, striking up to 3,000 Americans every year, according to ABC.
It seems a shame, however, for even one person’s life to end or be forever limited by brain damage due to a generally preventable infection.
That is why this vaccine must be made mandatory.
Exceptions can be made for those the CDC deigns unfit to receive the vaccine.
For instance, the severely ill, or those with an allergy could be exempted from the mandated vaccination.
But the rest of the incoming students should be made to provide proof of inoculation.
If you still don’t want the vaccine, that’s fine, you don’t have to live in the dorms.
Sometimes, in order to receive the benefits of living in a community, you must in turn make compromises for the health and safety of the group.
A little shot doesn’t seem like too much to ask.
Strickland received the vaccine in 2003. E-mail her at [email protected]. Send general comments to [email protected].