On the morning of March 5 President Bennet announced by e-mail that Tom Cornish ’05 was suspected to be infected with meningitis. Cornish was placed in intensive care in Middlesex Hospital and was later transferred to Yale-New Haven Hospital. He left the hospital last week and is expected to make a full recovery.
Dr. Davis Smith of the Davison Health Center had been in contact that Friday with Cornish, who was reporting symptoms similar to those of a bacterial meningitis infection. Once it was clear that he had come down with something serious, Smith recommended that Cornish immediately go the hospital. At the hospital, it was determined that Cornish was infected with Neisseria meningitidis B, or meningitis B.
Meningitis B is an infection of the connective tissue of the spinal cord and brain, and can cause permanent brain and neurological damage. Initial symptoms can include fever, stiff neck, headache, vomiting and changes in consciousness, according to the Merck Manual.
Wesleyan students are required to receive a Meningitis A vaccination before attending college, but there is no vaccine for type B, which has a 15 percent fatality rate.
“The problem with meningitis is that, while the organism isn’t difficult to kill, the patient who is infected with it becomes very sick very quickly,” Smith said.
Meningococci, the bacteria causing meningitis B, exists in the nasopharynx of about five percent of people and is spread by respiratory and close contact, according to the Merck Manual. For unknown reasons most carriers do not contract meningitis.
Once the University was notified that Cornish had meningitis, a crisis team including top Administration officials was formed. Peter Patton, Dean of the College, was the leading member of the group, according to Dr. Smith.
According to Justin Harmon, Director for University Communications, the University dealt with the situation efficiently and quickly, and there is no longer a potential risk.
“We are well past the timeframe during which a student infected through contact with Tom Cornish would have experienced symptoms, so we are confident that the illness has not spread,” Harmon said. “There was no ‘outbreak,’ but there was a situation that potentially threatened the health of the campus community.”
Smith spoke to 65-75 close contacts of Cornish immediately following his diagnosis, 60 of whom were offered preventative antibiotics.
Local and state health officials were also notified immediately who commended Wesleyan on their prompt handling of the situation, according to Smith.
According to Cornish’s housemate Pam Yang ’05, he is planning to return to campus on Sunday.
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