Acadia University's 2nd meningitis case comes just before students' break

The mother of an Acadia University student says she’s concerned students will be vacating the campus for winter break without knowing if they’re dealing with a meningococcal meningitis outbreak.

On Wednesday Dr. Robert Strang, the province's chief medical officer, said a second student at Acadia University has contracted the illness, but it remains unclear if she has strain B — the same strain that killed another female student last month.

Strang says students at the university will be immunized if the lab finds the strains are the same.

Martha Stewart, whose daughter Emma is a fourth-year student at the university, points out many students are already packing up to leave on break.

"Students will be leaving to go home, many of them not all of them, to many parts of Canada, perhaps the U.S. and the world. The potential for spreading that. I mean, we certainly heard with measles coming from Disneyland to Quebec, it’s certainly transmissible. What would the plan be, if many of the students have left the campus, to be able to immunize those students?"

Stewart says her daughter is flying to Montreal to visit her pregnant sister.

"I’m not bashing public health or any of that, I was just surprised that no one sort of raised the issue that students will be going on break and how will they possibly get students to be vaccinated?

She and her husband have considered vaccinating their daughter on their own before she flies out, but they still don’t know which strain infected the student in the latest case. 

Fourth case of meningitis in 2015

Stewart’s daughter didn’t know either Sarah Hastings, who died Feb. 1, or Hope Maryka — the first-year Acadia University student in hospital.

The Health Department said Maryka's case of meningococcal meningitis was confirmed on Tuesday night, but Strang said figuring out which strain could take 24 to 48 hours.

"It's important to remember that even with this latest diagnosis, the risk of getting the disease remains low in the general public," Strang said Wednesday. "There is no need to cancel classes or limit the movement of Acadia students and staff."

Dr. Joanne Langley, an infectious disease specialist with the IWK Health Centre, says just a few cases of a meningococcal disease would be considered an outbreak.

"If there were two cases that would trigger a public health measure," she said.

She says public health officials will interview people they think might have been exposed. Some people are resistant to it, while others fall sick.

Langley says infants, adolescents and young adults in crowded settings, like the military and universities, are at a higher risk for meningitis.

There have been four cases of meningitis, an infection of the tissue around the brain and spinal cord, in the province this year.

Rylee Sears, a Grade 10 student from Lower Sackville, died one week before Hastings. Sears had contracted a different strain of meningitis — the Y strain — which will be covered in Nova Scotia's new vaccination formula being rolled out this fall.

"Obviously it’s devastating to anyone with a child," said Stewart.

The Y strain is also the one contracted by the St. Francis Xavier University student, whose case was only revealed by health officials on Wednesday. The student is recovering.