After 2 Cases Of Meningitis B At Rutgers, School Urges Vaccines

Lab tests now confirm that both Rutgers students who had meningitis last month had meningitis type B. The DOH is calling it an outbreak.

March 13, 2019
Patch

SUMMARY

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — Two college students at Rutgers University in New Brunswick had to be hospitalized for meningitis this past February, and now this week the school confirmed the students had the same strain of the deadly bacteria, meningitis type B.

There is a current meningitis vaccine that all Rutgers students are required to get to live on campus. But that shot does not inoculate against type B, and now Rutgers is urging all students to get that second vaccination, said the school in a statement Tuesday night.

Even though both students have recovered and there are no new cases, the two diagnoses were enough for the state Department of Health to declare this an "outbreak" of meningitis type B at Rutgers.

"The New Jersey Department of Health declared an outbreak of meningitis B at Rutgers-New Brunswick because two students were diagnosed last month with versions of the bacterium in which the typing genes were identical (type B)," said Rutgers spokesman Neal Buccino.

Read the full article “After 2 Cases Of Meningitis B At Rutgers, School Urges Vaccines”