DISEASE CRISIS OVER, PRESIDENT TELLS BOARD

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 28, 1992                   TAG: 9202280262
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG
DATELINE: RADFORD                                LENGTH: Medium
DISEASE CRISIS OVER, PRESIDENT TELLS BOARD
Three days after a Radford University student died of a bacterial infection, there are no other reports of related illnesses and it appears that the potential crisis is over, university President Donald Dedmon told the Board of Visitors on Thursday.
"We have only had one case of the disease and all those who have reason to think they were exposed to it have taken an antibiotic to prevent the onset or spread," Dedmon said.
Rifampin, given over 36 hours, stops people from carrying the bacteria temporarily, preventing the spread of the disease.
Thomas Hamlett, a freshman from Rustburg, died Monday morning of a blood infection caused by the bacteria meningococcus, which most commonly causes meningitis.
"It's a strange and frightening illness," Dedmon said. "He was here and then he was suddenly gone. What we have to remember is that our young people who are in college have had limited experience with death. In the main, they have not seen their peers die, and we have a special obligation to help them with that."
Information on the disease is available in Radford's dormitories and at student health services.
In Highland County, a woman died last week of what doctors thought at first was meningitis caused by the same type of bacteria.
An autopsy, though, showed that she died of pneumococcus meningitis, a type that is not contagious through close respiratory contact, said Sandra Landry, a nurse epidemiologist for the Shenandoah Health District.
"These are two totally different types of bacteria," she said. The Health Department there already had administered medication to some citizens who had come in close contact with the woman. But the danger no longer exists, Landry said.
"This is a very emotional issue," Landry said. "It is easy to see why people are scared."
The meningococcal bacteria can be spread through respiratory contact, Landry said. But the contact must be very close.
It can be spread through sneezing or coughing, but that usually happens only when people are in close proximity - such as in a car, she said, not when they are outside in an open space.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB