Student diagnosed with meningitis

Pitt student Preetam Prakash was hospitalized on Tuesday of last week after collapsing in his… Pitt student Preetam Prakash was hospitalized on Tuesday of last week after collapsing in his apartment. He was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis.

He was released after four days of treatment and antibiotics.

According to senior physician at Student Health Dr. Pamela Talley, meningitis is caused by bacteria that infects the fluid in the lining of the brain and the spinal cord. Bacterial meningitis can be fatal if not treated immediately. It can be contracted by close contact with a person who is infected.

“This means kissing, eating, drinking, smoking the same cigarette or even using the same glass,” she said.

Some cases are spontaneous, though. According to Talley, a certain percentage of people are carriers of meningitis. Not enough research has been done to have any conclusive data about these carriers – which may have been the case with Prakash.

“We don’t think these people are carriers forever, though,” Talley said. “It’s very difficult to explain a person’s first case.”

Prakash had been experiencing headaches and discomfort before being admitted to the hospital.

“I wasn’t feeling that great for about a week beforehand, and it just got worse and worse,” he said.

Pitt student and friend of Prakash, Carly Gordon, heard the news on Tuesday night last week while she was at work. She immediately rushed to the hospital.

“I was freaking out,” she said. “And I was crying a lot. A nurse had to calm me down.”

Gordon and a group of friends spent much of the week at the hospital. Prakash’s parents flew in from their home in San Francisco to be by their son’s side.

“Last week was awful,” Gordon said. “It’s really a miracle that he’s OK.”

Forty-seven people were treated at Pitt Student Health as a preventative measure, including his roommates and those who had spent time in close contact with Prakash within 10 days prior to his hospitalization.

Gordon had been with him on Friday night at Hemingway’s. Unable to recall whether she had taken a sip of his drink or come in contact with him, she – like the others – was instructed to take the antibiotic ciprofloxacin.

“[Ciprofloxacin] is felt to prevent the disease in people that might have been exposed to it but not yet gotten ill,” Talley said.

There is a vaccine, Menactra, which is protective for five to seven years. The vaccine used in previous years, Menomune, is preventative three to five years. Pitt students are required to receive a vaccination before their freshman year – which Prakash did.

“No vaccine is 100 percent protective, though,” Talley said.

Prakash is currently house-ridden for the next week and is on antibiotics regularly through an IV.

“I still feel a little weary,” he said.

According to the Allegheny County Health Department’s Web site, less than 10 cases of meningitis appear county-wide each year.