On Friday, San Diego County health officials confirmed that another San Diego County student has been diagnosed with the same strain of the meningococcal bacteria that killed a San Diego State University freshman last week.
Fox5 reported that the unidentified student attends Palomar College just thirty miles north from where 18-year-old Sara Stelzer went to school and was tragically stricken with meningitis, which ultimately took her life.
Stelzer was taken off life support systems on October 18, which she was on for a short time while her parents considered the possibility of donating her organs.
The Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) identified the meningococcal bacteria strain as belonging to serotype B, which according to the Centers for Disease Control, is not protected by normal vaccines given to young people in the U.S. So far, there is no known connection between the two students. However, they do share the same general geographical location in the southernmost county in California.
On Monday, Breitbart News spoke with Beth Chee, Director of Media Relations with SDSU, and was told that over 1,000 students had been tested for meningitis. Although there were some cases of flu-like conditions reported, there were no further cases of meningitis discovered at the University so far.
Less than 100 miles up the road from San Diego, KTLA reported on Friday, a WestJet plane arriving from Canada was detained on the tarmac of John Wayne Airport after a 2-year-old, suspected of having meningitis, was reported on board. The child was immediately hospitalized, but was released after it was determined she was not infected.
Dean Sidelinger of San Diego County’s Public Health Services said on Friday, “Meningococcal disease is spread through close contact with the person infected, but others should be aware of the symptoms so that they may seek care if they develop these symptoms.”
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.