{"id":53654,"date":"2022-06-15T16:10:46","date_gmt":"2022-06-15T20:10:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=53654"},"modified":"2022-06-15T16:10:49","modified_gmt":"2022-06-15T20:10:49","slug":"meningitis-cases-on-the-rise-fl-health-officials-warn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2022\/06\/meningitis-cases-on-the-rise-fl-health-officials-warn\/","title":{"rendered":"Meningitis Cases On The Rise, FL Health Officials Warn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>County health officials throughout Florida are advising at-risk residents to be vaccinated in the wake of a continuing outbreak of meningitis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"732\" height=\"549\" src=\"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/meningitis-732x549-thumbnail-732x549-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-53655\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/meningitis-732x549-thumbnail-732x549-1.jpg 732w, https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/meningitis-732x549-thumbnail-732x549-1-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 732px) 100vw, 732px\" \/><figcaption>Meningitis bacteria (Neisseria meningitidis), computer artwork.\n499160067\nartwork, digitally generated, illustration, nobody, microscopic, microbiology, no one, no-one, biology, biological, biomedical illustration, health, healthcare, 3d, 3 dimensional, three dimensional, bacteria, bacterial, bacterium, medium group of objects, blue, neisseria meningitidis, meningococcus, meningitis, meningococcal, disease, illness, unwell, neisseriales, neisseriaceae, neisseria, . meningitidis, abnormal, unhealthy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.floridahealth.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Florida Department of Health<\/a>&nbsp;said the number of cases identified in 2022 has now surpassed the five-year average for meningococcal bacteria disease cases in Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/meningococcal\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>&nbsp;has issued an alert for Florida as well. According to the CDC, a cluster of cases has been reported among college and university students in Leon County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There has been eight new cases reported in Florida since June 1, bringing the total number of cases since Jan. 1 to 43. The largest number of cases were reported in Orange County (13) cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other counties reporting cases include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bottom of Form<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>4 \u2014 Lee County<\/li><li>4 \u2014 Polk County<\/li><li>3 \u2014 Leon County<\/li><li>3 \u2014 Miami-Dade County<\/li><li>3 \u2014 Lake County<\/li><li>2 \u2014 Brevard County<\/li><li>2 \u2014 Broward County<\/li><li>2 \u2014 Seminole County<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>One case each has been reported in Osceola, Palm Beach, Alachua, Collier, Duval, Hardee and Hillsborough counties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eight cases have occurred in people age 30 to 34 years old, six in ages 25 to 29, six in ages 20 to 24, five in ages 35-39 and four in ages 45 to 49.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Epidemiologists are investigating each case, as well as contacting people with potential or direct exposure to reported cases to let them know about treatment options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The CDC said this is an often-severe and potentially deadly illness caused by a bacteria called&nbsp;<em>Neisseria meningitidis.&nbsp;<\/em>It can infect the lining of the brain and spinal cord (known as meningitis) as well as the bloodstream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While dangerous, health officials say the disease is not as contagious as germs that cause the common cold or flu, and can be prevented with a vaccination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The disease cannot be transmitted through casual contact or by breathing the air of someone with the meningitis bacteria. It requires close contact over a period of time or direct contact such as kissing or sharing drinks to contract the disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Early symptoms of the disease include fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, light sensitivity, confusion and rash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anyone who has been exposed or develops symptoms should be evaluated by a health care provider immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The following groups should consider vaccination with a meningococcal conjugate (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/vaccines\/hcp\/vis\/vis-statements\/mening.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">MenACWY<\/a>) vaccine during this outbreak:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>College and university students.<\/li><li>Immunocompromised people.<\/li><li>People living with HIV.<\/li><li>Men who have sex with men.<\/li><li>People in any of the groups listed above who received their MenACWY vaccine more than five years ago.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The MenACWY vaccine is available through most health care providers and pharmacies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>County health departments also have some vaccines available at clinics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>County health officials throughout Florida are advising at-risk residents to be vaccinated in the wake of a continuing outbreak of meningitis. The&nbsp;Florida Department of Health&nbsp;said the number of cases identified&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":53655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1362,1361],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53654"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53654"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53656,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53654\/revisions\/53656"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}