THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 18, 1995 TAG: 9503180249
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARIE JOYCE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
Health officials are recommending antibiotic treatments for all staff members and students at Norfolk Academy after confirming a second case of meningococcal disease there Friday.
The second victim, senior Hannon Wright, who became sick Wednesday, is expected to make a full recovery and leave DePaul Medical Center today, according to his family.
Meanwhile, the other Norfolk Academy student to contract the disease, D.A. Taylor, remained in critical condition at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters Friday afternoon. Doctors had to amputate Taylor's feet two weeks ago because of the infection.
John H. Tucker Jr., the headmaster of Norfolk Academy - a private school off Wesleyan Drive in Norfolk - said he got a call Friday afternoon from the doctor who was treating Wright, saying that tests confirmed Wright had the disease. Tucker called the Norfolk Health Department, and officials there ordered a round of preventive treatment with the antibiotic rifampin for everyone at the school.
Classes went on as usual Friday, but school officials decided to cancel after-school activities as a precaution, Tucker said.
School will resume at the regular time Monday, Tucker said. On Tuesday, health officials will visit the school to vaccinate staff and students, he said.
Meningococcal disease is a bacterial infection that causes either meningitis - a swelling of the lining of the brain - or meningococcemia, blood poisoning. The treatment is the same for both forms.
Health officials say the first Hampton Roads student infected, Taylor, 16, probably was infected at a track meet Feb. 11 in Alexandria. A Northern Virginia girl at the event died from the illness.
Most infections show up within 10 days, health officials say, and as time passed without a third case, officials had hoped there would be no more. After Taylor's case was reported, the state Health Department recommended that several hundred students who attended take antibiotics, primarily to prevent further outbreaks.
However, Wright has the same strain of the bacteria as Taylor. None of the other half-dozen or so recent South Hampton Roads cases is of that strain, said Dr. Valerie Stallings, Norfolk health director.
Hannon's father, Grover Wright of Virginia Beach, said his son didn't have any direct contact with Taylor between the track meet and the onset of Taylor's illness.
However, 25 percent to 50 percent of the population may be carrying the bacteria in their noses and throats during an outbreak, health officials say, although most don't get sick. For reasons doctors don't understand, only a small percentage of people are susceptible to infection.
Taylor has been in the hospital since mid-February.
It was because of Taylor's case that Wright's parents reacted so quickly when their son woke up early Wednesday with a rash and high fever. Their son's doctor treated the infection as meningococcal disease, even though the tests confirming the diagnosis weren't finished until Friday. MEMO: Staff writers Steve Stone and Lise Olsen contributed to this story.
ILLUSTRATION: ABOUT THE DISEASE
[Graphic was not available electronically.]
by CNB