bacterial meningitis

[essarge]

I am an emergency room tech and while I knew that I would be exposed to allot of different things last night really brought it home. A young adult was brought in...lethargic, very combative at times, along with a multitude of other symptoms. After a very long night (all the time using standard precautions) it was decided to do an LP. It came back positive for bacterial meningitis. We all had to take a prophylactic dose of Cipro.

This really brought home the reason for precautions and the very valuable need for them. I will never, ever, go take care of a patient without using them and when in doubt I will use an isolation gown.

I hope this short story helps some of you realize how very important precautions are....no matter what the circumstances.

[nrselisa]

I agree, precautions are very important.

Below is from the WBOC website about a student at Del State.

State Officials: Meningitis No Longer A Threat

4/6/02 10:41:39 AM

Reporter: Eric Parker

Videographer: Carroll McDormand

Meningitis killed a local college student last Friday...

State health officials say the victim did not spread the infection to anyone else at Del State's Georgetown campus.

(Dr. Leroy Hathcock - DE DEPT. OF HEALTH): We feel like we've found all the close contacts that have been potentially exposed by this individual and all those individuals have had their preventive antibiotics so we don't think there's any more risk out there in the community.

Meningitis is spread by close contact like kissing or sharing drinks.

Symptoms include severe headache, stiff neck, and fever.

Infection typically sets in within a few days of exposure to the bacteria.

Call your doctor if any of these symptoms become severe.

[CountrifiedRN]

Thank you for the reminder, essarge! You can never be too careful.