College Students Against Meningitis
Bacterial Meningitis had been around for a long time, and over the years Tallahassee has become very acquainted with it. In June 2004 Tallahassee Memorial Hospital reported 88 cases of Bacterial Meningitis in that year alone. What exactly is bacterial meningitis? According to the National Meningitis Association, this disease is a serious and potentially fatal bacterial infection that strikes an average of 1500 Americans per year. Children and young adults being the largest target. And with Tallahassee having three major colleges in the city, it only adds fuel to the fire.
Another reason college students are at a higher risk of contracting bacterial meningitis is because the disease tends to spread more rapidly in big communities such as college campuses and dormitories.
But how dangerous is bacterial meningitis? The Centers for Disease control and prevention, bacterial meningitis affected 4100 people in the United States between the year 2003 and 2007, with 500 of those cases resulted in death.
More recent, right here in Tallahassee, Lawson Mayfield, 18, lost her life to bacterial meningitis in 2009. After her death her family organized an annual event called "Run4Lawson" which actually took place saturday. The purpose of thus event is to educate on the dangers and preventions of bacterial meningitis, and so raise money for the National Meningitis Association. The event was a complete success, hopefully topping the 35,000 dollars then made at last years event.
But the only way to prevent more deaths in the community is to get vaccinated. Leon County Public Health Department offers vaccinations to children as young as 11 years old for free. But children as young as young as 9 months are able to get the vaccination for their doctor. For more information on bacterial meningitis please visit the National Meningitis Association's website atwww.Nmaus.org or for information on the run4lawson visit run4lawson.org
- Destiny Tyler, FNN
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