Oregon State University will be holdingmass vaccination clinics next week after a student came down with meningococcal disease. Two earlier cases were diagnosed in November.
The two students who became ill with meningococcal disease in November have recovered. Charlie Fautin with Benton County Health Department says the 3rd person is in good condition in a Corvallis hospital. Fautin says it’s not unusual to have so much time between cases but 3 constitute an official outbreak. He says the disease is not easily transmitted.
Fautin: “Body fluids, sneezing, coughing, sharing of eating utensils, cups, smoking materials some of the same ways flu is spread but it is not nearly as contagious as the flu.”
Fautin says they’re asking undergrads aged 25 and under to get vaccinated, especially those who live in dormitories or other group living situations. A University of Oregon student died of meningococcal disease during an outbreak in 2015.
OSU will offer vaccination clinics on Wednesday, March 8, and Thursday, March 9, in McAlexander Field House from 9 a.m. through 6 p.m.
More information on meningococcal disease is available by calling the OSU Student Health Services Nurse Advice line at 541-737-2724 or Benton County Health Department communicable disease nurses at 541-766-6835 or by visiting these websites:
http://studenthealth.oregonstate.edu/infectious-diseases/meningococcal-disease
http://public.health.oregon.gov/DiseasesConditions/DiseasesAZ/Pages/disease.aspx?did=51
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