C228 Community Health Task 2

Michelle Wall

Meningococcal disease is a disease that can be found worldwide. Meningococcal disease refers to any disease or illness that is caused by the type of bacteria called Neisseria meningitides, also called meningococcus (Meningococcal disease, 2015). The first documented outbreak was over two hundred years ago in Geneva in 1805 which circulated rapidly and killed thirty three people. The first case ever recorded in America was in 1806 in Medford, Massachusetts (Fredericks, n.d.). A European physician, Professor A Weichselbaum, discovered the cause of the mysterious cerebro-spinal meningitis illness in 1887 and Penicillin was the first antibiotic used to fight the disease. In 1978 the first …show more content…

Nine states require the meningococcal vaccine for the first time college students living on campus, those states include Pennsylvania, Kansas, Connecticut, Louisiana, Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rode Island, and New Jersey. However, New York City and Los Angeles reported cases as recently as last year, 2014. In February, 2015 a new vaccine to protect against the serotype B meningococcal disease was approved for ages 10 to 25 year olds (CDC, 2015). Vaccines are recommended for anyone living in close conditions such as dorms, fraternities, sororities, and military barracks (Burrell, 2015).
In March of 2010 one outbreak of meningococcal disease serotype C occurred in the United States in Oklahoma and involved 6 cases in children as young as 5 years old, with two deaths from the exposure. The cases were reported within 48 hours of each other, making it apparent that the likelihood of additional cases was only a matter of time, thus requiring immediate attention from the Public Health department. Because this is not the usual age for vaccination the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSHD) and the Rogers County Health Department decided to setup a prophylactic clinic at the school (in the gym) involved and a vaccination clinic at the community physician’s office, they administered more than 1,400 vaccines from March 22-26, 2010 (CDC, 2012). The OSHD found that 3 children were in the same second grade class, one child was in kindergarten with one of the