Second Acadia student ‘recovering’ from meningitis
Posted Feb 11, 2015 01:48:42 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
HALIFAX – A second student at Acadia University has been diagnosed with meningococcal meningitis and is recovering in hospital.
Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer of health says the strain of the disease isn’t yet known, but the province will begin a targeted vaccination program if it is the same strain that was contracted by another female student who died this month.
Dr. Robert Strang says it is unusual for two confirmed cases of meningitis to occur in one population.
The second student lives alone off campus and there was no known contact between her and Sarah Hastings, the first student who contracted the disease.
The young woman is a first-year business student and member of the school’s female rugby team.
She became ill Monday and was taken to hospital near the school in Wolfville.
Strang says the student recovering in hospital does not have close contacts who would be at a greater risk of getting meningitis.
The second case was confirmed by a lab on Tuesday and Strang says it could take a few more days before the strain is confirmed.
