THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 21, 1996 TAG: 9601210091
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LEXINGTON LENGTH: Short : 36 lines
Doctors treated about 150 people at Virginia Military Institute with antibiotics on Friday after a Keydet freshman died of a contagious form of meningitis.
Scott W. Hickey, 18, of Staunton died at 2 p.m. Friday from the relatively rare illness, caused by the bacterium Neissera meningitides, according to Maj. Gen. Josiah Bunting III, VMI superintendent.
The freshman became ill Thursday night with flulike symptoms. When the symptoms persisted Friday morning, he was taken to Stonewall Jackson Hospital in Lexington.
Bunting said the boy's condition worsened, and he was scheduled to be taken by helicopter to the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville. Shortly after takeoff, however, Hickey went into cardiac arrest, and the chopper returned to the Lexington hospital, where he died a short time later.
The incubation period for the disease is one to 10 days, so it is unknown where Hickey was exposed to the disease. VMI cadets did not report back from Christmas vacation until Jan. 15, Bunting said.
It was recommended that anyone who had come in close contact with Hickey for three or four hours take the antibiotic.
As a further precautionary measure, VMI has postponed its Saturday home basketball game with Davidson, Bunting said. by CNB