Football player hospitalized meningitis suspected

[Mustangunner]

Student hospitalized, meningitis suspected
A. Neely Eisenstein, Managing Editor, [email protected]
Issue date: 3/7/07 Section: News

A male student was admitted to the hospital just before noon on Tuesday for a suspected blood infection with Neisseria Meningitidis, the bacteria that causes meningitis.

According to Dr. Nancy Merrill, co-medical director of the SMU Memorial Student Health Center, the patient had fever and "non-specific" symptoms including nausea.

The presumptive diagnosis of meningococcemia was made by blood cultures done at a local emergency room. The health center was notified of the preliminary culture results today. Both the emergency room and the health center notified the patient.

"We want to inform people, not scare them," said Merrill.

The hospital will not be able to confirm the student's case until Thursday when his test results are completed.

Until there is confirmation, there is not a lot the health center can do since privacy laws prohibit the release of specifics about the patient's visits or information, said Merrill.

The Dallas County Health Department, which is working with the health center, notified the student's roommate and girlfriend to administer a preventative medicine to them.

The treatment was also administered to the entire football team, since the student is a member of the team.

The health center is concerned that with Spring Break approaching, students will pay less attention the warning.

"We don't want people to run off to Cancun and come down with fever or weird rashes and be somewhere they can't get the proper antibiotics," said Merrill.

Students living in Moore Hall who think they were in contact with the hospitalized student may stop by the health center and receive a dose of Ciprofloxacin. It is a one-time dose of 500mg in pill form and costs a dollar. Not everyone needs the pill, cautioned Merrill.

A first-year student at Baylor University was hospitalized with meningococcal meningitis in early February.

A campus-wide e-mail was sent out Tuesday notifying the SMU community of the suspected meningococcal infection.

The e-mail said individuals would have to have been in contact with the infected student for at least eight hours or have shared bodily fluids.

Symptoms develop quickly and include: high fever, headache, stiff neck, vomiting, chills, drowsiness, altered mental status or rash. It can take anywhere between two and 10 days to surface.

[davidsmu94]

Wow, do we have any idea as to who it is? This stuff is scarry.

[smu diamond m]

Columbus Givens.

He was in the hospital on Saturday, not sure whether he was admitted on Sat. or previously.

[that's great raplh]

speedy recovery cg

[smupony94]

meningitis is scary stuff - my niece got it at 9 days old and it will take years of rehabilitation for her to lead a normal life

[OC Mustang]

Talk about putting football into perspective...

Get well soon, Mr. Givens.
To hell with playing football.
I just want you to get better.

[abezontar]

I would like him to get better and win the heisman, and then have a movie made about his triumph over the disease.

[smupony94]

I would like him to get better and win the heisman, and then have a movie made about his triumph over the disease.

Please no Brian's Song

[mustangbill67]

I have a vague recollection that we had a player die from meningitis, I believe back in the 80's.

[smu diamond m]

Oh, so you all know: he should be fine. The sickness was caught in it's early stages, so the treatment should be pretty effective. I think it's just a heavy round of Ciprofloxacin

[Ponymon]

Regional Roundup page 2B in the Metro Section of today's DMN indicates that the lab results show that Columbus does NOT have meningitis.

[EastStang]

Meningitis looks a lot like a bunch of other ailments (including migrane). And the lab tests take several days, (something about a spinal tap). Many doctors will assume meningitis since treating it early is the real important thing and treating those exposed to the patient early to prevent an outbreak (its highly communicable). They also give the patient pain medication in case its something like a migrane. Many times it turns out to be something very benign.

[OC Mustang]

My youngest son (eight yrs old) had a spinal tap in the ER testing for meningitis last May. He had a grand mal at home, and they went through the whole bit trying to figure it all out.

Even with pain meds, he wailed and cried for two days afterwards.

CG, if you had a spinal, my heart goes out to you, man.
Ouch.

[jtstang]

Oh, so you all know: he should be fine. The sickness was caught in it's early stages, so the treatment should be pretty effective. I think it's just a heavy round of Ciprofloxacin

Pre-med? I thought you were pre-law.

[mrydel]

My first wife had a spinal tap at one point in our marriage. It has become a fond memory of our time together.