THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 10, 1996 TAG: 9604100359
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Short : 35 lines
Public health officials are working to calm parents at an Indian River day-care facility after a boy there was diagnosed with a form of meningitis that is harder to catch than most.
The boy, whose name and age weren't released, was hospitalized Friday with S. Pneumoniae meningitis, a strep-pneumonia form of the illness. City health officials reported the case late Monday.
``Meningitis'' is an inflammation of the meninges - the membranes of the brain and spinal cord - caused by bacteria or viruses.
Strep-pneumonia meningitis is serious, but not as contagious as meningococcal meningitis, the infection usually warned about in public-health notices. Monday's notice was to allay parents' fears, said Dr. Nancy M. Welch, Chesapeake Health Department director.
None of the other children at the Elizabeth River Baptist Day Care & Kindergarten have shown any symptoms, said the facility's director, Ansley Schindler. About 80 children attend the center on Sparrow Road.
Welch sent letters to parents Monday, emphasizing that strep-pneumonia meningitis isn't highly contagious and that children who catch it usually have other illnesses that undermine their immune systems, as did the boy in this case.
Children with strep-pneumonia meningitis need not be isolated, and those in contact with them don't need to be innoculated, Welch wrote. by CNB