Mothers of Meningitis Victims Speak
This morning, Alliance, Ohio began turning high schools into hospitals. Nearly 6,000 students will receive meningitis vaccinations after two students in the area died and a third has contracted the disease.
According to a spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this type of mass immunization is not completely unheard of. "On average there are three to four situations per year where a health department has actually initiated an immunization campaign for meningitis," the spokesperson says.
On Friday May 25, Jon Stauffer went to the nurse's office of his high school complaining of flu-like symptoms. His grandmother picked him up from school, laid him down at home, and gave him Tylenol and juice. Within hours, Stauffer's condition worsened.
Stauffer's last words before he was flown to Akron children's hospital were, "Mommy, I love you." Twelve hours after being admitted, he died--just 2 weeks before his 16th birthday.
Kelly Coblentz was the second victim. Her parents, Lynn and James Coblentz, took her to the hospital the day after Stauffer's death, as a precautionary measure. Coblentz was admitted to the hospital with a sore throat and never left.
Christin Van Camp fell ill to the same disease soon after, and is currently hospitalized. Her condition has been upgraded to stable.
Early reports claim the two students may have shared a water bottle at their high school picnic last month, but both Coblentz and Stauffer's parents doubt that theory. Coblentz's mother says that due to a viral meningitis infection 2 years ago, her daughter was extremely careful about sharing drinks or bodily fluids. None of the three victims were friends.
According to Mark Hostettler, MD, medical director at Alliance Community Hospital, "Transmission of the disease, while deadly, requires very close, very personal contact, such as kissing on the lips or sneezing up someone's nose." Other reports state the disease can be spread by drinking out of the same container or sharing an eating utensil.
The bacterium causes both meningitis, a disease of the brain, and meningococcemia, a disease of the blood. Symptoms include high fever, headache, stiff neck, confusion, nausea, vomiting, exhaustion, and sometimes a rash.
Tom Skinner, spokesman for the CDC in Atlanta, says, "There are about 3,000 cases of meningitis annually in the United States and 10-15% die from the disease." Survivors, he says, can suffer permanent damage to their bodies, including brain damage.
Coblentz and Stauffer's mothers spoke with the Early Show about what happened to their children and how they are coping with the loss.
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