Two Lompoc students contract meningitis

Parents at Fillmore Elementary School in Lompoc have been notified that a kindergarten student and his sister in preschool have contracted bacterial meningitis.

The 6-year-old boy and his 5-year-old sister are both recovering from the contagious but rare disease, Lompoc school and county health officials said.

Rumors of the youngsters' illness began to circulate among parents at midweek, but school officials said they waited to get information about whether the boy was infected before notifying parents. The disease can be deadly if left untreated, officials said.

Although the boy attends Fillmore, his sister attends a non-district Head Start program that is on the school grounds but separate from the campus. She contracted the disease the weekend of March 9 and her brother was diagnosed on Thursday, according to school and health officials.

Principal Jan Boehme said she received notification of his infection Thursday, then decided to notify parents. Notices were mailed that day.

In large letters, the notice reads, “This situation does not represent a meningococcol school outbreak.”

Parents at the girl's school and the boy's kindergarten class have been advised by health officials to take their children to a doctor for preventive antibiotic treatment, said Bob Altavilla, senior school district health official.

Bacterial meningitis is an inflammation of the membrane surrounding the brain and spinal cord caused by a bacterial infection. Symptoms include fever, headache and nausea. According to Internet sources, bacterial meningitis is the most dangerous form of meningitis and has a high mortality rate if left untreated.

In the notification letter mailed to parents, officials indicated it is difficult to contract the disease because it can only be transmitted through intimate contact with salivary fluid.

“It requires very close contact and its usually close contact by people in the same household such as kissing or sharing food and drink,” Boehme said. “Our teachers ensure that our students are not sharing food or drink.”

County health official Michele Mickiewicz said the bacteria is common, but people rarely become infected. In the past six years there have been about two to four cases in Santa Barbara County each year, she said.

“Getting it really is not easy,” Mickiewicz said. “The bacteria is passed only through direct and very close contact with someone.”

Still, parents like Tanya Reed, mother of a fourth-grader at Fillmore, was upset that she wasn't notified as soon as the girl was found infected. Reed pulled her son out of school for a week because she said bacterial meningitis has an incubation period of about 10 days. She said her son will return to school when that time has passed.

Reed said she and several other parents had been calling the school about the illness since Wednesday with the message that they should have been notified earlier.

“If the kids sneeze and saliva comes out they can get it that way, and I know boys like to spit on their hands and shake sometimes,” she said. “Knowing she had a brother going to the school, they should have notified us sooner to warn us. It is a serious illness and I was mad that they didn't notify us (sooner). They have to notify us when the kids have chicken pox or anything else.”

Reed said parents found out about the situation through word of mouth.

“There's about 50 to 100 parents that are really upset,” Reed said. “By Wednesday afternoon, it was already the talk on everybody's mouth about what was going on.”

Boehme said the situation is under control and parents who are still concerned should contact the health department and their family doctor.

“It's very important for their kids to be in school,” Boehme said. “My understanding is there is a very small chance of this spreading. The chance is minimal. It seems like the health department feels it's under control.”

Neil Nisperos can be reached at 737-1059, or nnisperos@santa

mariatimes.com.

March 17, 2007