CDC recommends meningitis vaccinations for students

A government panel recently recommended that all college freshmen living in dorms be vaccinated for meningitis. The recommendation will have little impact on University students, who are already required to receive the vaccination by state law.

An estimated 85 percent of incoming students are vaccinated for meningitis before entering the University, said Daniel Silverman, director of University Health Services and Chief Medical Officer of the University.

The shot is offered by University Health Services for students who do not receive vaccinations before their arrival.

"It's never been a huge problem . . . in the past," Silverman said.

A New Jersey law passed last year already requires that college students living in dorms be vaccinated for meningitis because of their increased risk of contracting the disease.

The recent recommendation, made on Feb. 10 by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice, applies to students nationwide.

According to the Washington Post, the announcement was prompted in part by the release of a new vaccine, Menactra. The high cost of previous meningitis vaccinations prevented the CDC from making the recommendation earlier, the Post reported.

Since New Jersey law already requires vaccinations, the recommendation will trigger positive — but not drastic — changes at the University, Silverman said.

"With the CDC recommendation and the state law, I think close to 100 percent of students will come [to the University] having already had [the vaccination]," Silverman said.

The CDC recommendation might have a greater influence on international students because vaccination policies differ in other countries, Silverman noted.

Meningitis is "an infection of the fluid of a person's spinal cord and the fluid that surrounds the brain," according to the CDC website. The disease can be either viral or bacterial, the latter being more dangerous.

Because bacterial meningitis is "spread through the exchange of respiratory and throat secretions (i.e., coughing, kissing)," people who live in close quarters such as dorms are more likely to be infected, according to the website.

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College freshmen living in dormitories are six times more likely to contract meningitis than the general population, according to the Washington Post.

Silverman said he could not recall an active case of meningitis at the University, though in previous years some students have been exposed to viral meningitis at home.

"We monitored them closely, but fortunately they didn't develop active cases," he said.

Silverman declined to say whether he thought the CDC recommendation should have been issued earlier, but said he believes it is a "positive thing."

"I think it's great that they're making a strong recommendation," he said. "It's one thing if you're going to a commuter school, but at . . . universities with on-campus dorms, it's especially important to be vaccinated."

He added that he believes most incoming University students and their families already recognize this fact.

"Most students and their families have already elected to get the shot," he said. "[Members of] the baby boom generation are very vigilant about their children's health."