SMYTH COUNTY (WSLS 10/WCYB) - More than 600 students will be out of school for the rest of the week after a confirmed case of meningitis in Smyth County.
Doctors say there are two more suspected cases of meningitis at Chilhowie Elementary School.
The health district director says tests are not back confirming if it is bacterial or viral meningitis, but doctors are treating it as bacterial meningitis because of the symptoms. Those symptoms include fever, rash, and a stiff neck.
ER physician Dr. Ryan Stanton says, "When parents get a letter home from their children's schools in the mail about infections, it's rarely anything really to worry about, flu or other things that may be going through the classroom, but in the case of Smyth County and Chilhowie in southwest Virginia, recent letters have gone home talking about meningococcal meningitis and bacterial meningitis in several cases.
Meningitis is an infection and inflammation of the lining around the central nervous system, around the brain and the spinal cord. Most cases are viral in nature, typically requiring nothing more than supportive measures and time to get over those. There are cases of bacterial meningitis. They are much more rare, but have much more dangerous.
There are basically five bacteria that make up the majority of bacterial meningitis cases. Most of those are strep in origin, the same strep that we see going around in strep throat and other illnesses. It poses very little risk to those around the patient with meningitis. The other is meningococcal meningitis. This is the one that is more worrisome because it moves very quickly and poses significant risk to the patient and those around them.
We see these cases most commonly in schools, colleges, and army barracks, places where folks are in tight quarters. The good news is that it is incredibly rare. The CDC reports only about 4,100 cases of bacterial meningitis per year and only about 500 deaths. To put that into perspective, I personally have never seen a case of meningococcal meningitis during my years in emergency medicine and I only see about 1 or 2 bacterial meningitis cases per year. The key is early recognition and treatment. The symptoms include severe headaches, photophobia, vomiting, severe neck stiffness to the point that it may feel like a solid rod extending up through the neck and spine.
Also, meningococcal meningitis often has a characteristic rash as well. If you have any concern about yourself or a family member, get checked out right away in order to get the lumbar puncture, cultures, and antibiotics onboard early, to promote recovery and safety. Also, when it comes to college age students and adults, there is a vaccine available against meningococcal meningitis that is often required before starting college.
The most important thing is to get checked out. It is incredibly rare, but we need to be aware and keep an eye on it, doing everything we can to prevent the spread and potential of others getting infected."