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  • An outbreak of meningitis at Oologah-Talala Schools that took the lives of two elementary students and infected four other students has caused the district to cancel classes for Friday. The school will remain closed next week in observance of spring break. Krystal J. Carman

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March 13, 2010

Source of meningitis outbreak still under investigation

Krystal J. Carman Staff Writer

CLAREMORE — Rogers County Health Department officials said Thursday they would try to find the source of Thursday's outbreak of meningitis at Oologah-Talala Lower Elementary School. But state health department officials say it's not going to be easy.

"There's not really a source," Oklahoma State Health Department spokesman Larry Weatherford said. "The disease exists in the environment. It's not like E. coli where you can pinpoint where it came from. It's not a disease that is easily pinned down.

"We can't just say it comes from the water or eating food from another country."

So far, officials are reporting the disease has claimed the lives of 7-year-old Andrew Thomas and 8-year-old Shuache Moua. Four other lower elementary students have been hospitalized, including a 6-year-old child.

A "handful" of children presenting symptoms of meningitis showed up at the emergency room at St. John Hospital in Owasso on Thursday. Two of those children were transported to St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa, according to Joy McGill with the community relations department at St. John Hospital in Tulsa.

McGill added that no children were seen with symptoms of meningitis on Friday.

The focus at Oologah-Talala Schools is to diagnose any children, faculty or staff that may

have contracted the disease.

"Our focus remains on identifying the direct contacts who may be ill," Weatherford said.

"That's the most important thing."

Being in close quarters such as a classroom with small children who may cough and sneeze would give the perception that spreading meningitis is as easy as spreading the common cold or the flu.

"The classroom is the perfect scenario for the spread of influenza, but not the spread of

meningococcal disease," Weatherford said. "This spread is very unusual. It has produced a high level of anxiety among the community.

"You can't get it by going to a meeting or a class with someone who has it," Weather ford said. "A lot of people get meningitis and other members of the family don't. This outbreak is very unusual."

The state health department reports that 90 percent of viral meningitis cases come from a group of common intestinal viruses called enteroviruses. These are typically spread from person-to-person through direct or indirect contact with fecal material, usually on unclean hands or contaminated environmental items.

Viruses can be passed about three days after a person becomes infected until 10 days after symptoms occur.

Bacterial meningitis can be caused by bacteria such as Streptococcus species or Neisseria meningitis, which are spread by direct contact with saliva or respiratory droplets from the nose and throat of an infected person.

The antibiotics that were given at the gymnasium on Thursday and Friday were being administered as a preventive measure to persons exposed to the students with meningitis.

Dr. Sam Stauffer, an Oologah physician, said Thursday that diagnosing meningitis is typically done through blood tests and performing laboratory tests on spinal fluid.

Weatherford said the state health department has an adequate supply of the antibiotics Rocephin and Rifampin to treat all of those who are in direct contact with the students who were hospitalized for meningitis.

"Yesterday our department brought enough to treat 1,000 people," he said. "On Thursday, 640 were given the antibiotic.

We won't know how many were treated on Friday until the clinic closes." The clinic, being held at the lower elementary gymnasium, administered the antibiotics until 8 p.m. on Thursday

and reopened from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday.

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