CBC News
KING CITY,
ONT. - A 16-year-old Ontario boy is on life-support in a Quebec
hospital with meningitis. This follows news that Alberta is offering
the meningitis vaccine for the third time this year.
The
hospitalized teen is a student of Country Day School in King City,
just north of Toronto.
Late last
week, the Ontario boy complained of flu-like symptoms while on
a bus trip to a soccer tournament in Sherbrooke, Que. He was hospitalized
there after complaining of fever, headache and loss of bowel control.
Health officials
have not confirmed if there is another student in the region with
meningitis symptoms. The second boy was a roommate of the teen
with meningitis.
It's not yet
known how or where the boy contracted the meningitis, but students
who came in contact with him are being treated with a four-day
supply of antibiotics.
Meanwhile,
young adults in the Edmonton area are being offered the meningitis
vaccine after officials confirmed seven cases of the disease.
Brett Danylyshen,
19, died last week from meningococcal meningitis, an inflammation
or infection of the membrane that lines the brain and the spinal
cord.
Two other
teens have died in Edmonton since last December.
About 210,000
children between the ages of two and 19 were vaccinated in February.
It was one of the largest meningitis immunization campaigns in
Canada.
The new campaign
will target another 145,000 young people missed in earlier campaigns.
There have
been 38 reported cases of meningitis in the Edmonton region since
early September. In 1997, the last year for statistics on meningitis,
252 cases were reported in Canada.
The disease
is spread by direct contact with mucous or saliva from the nose
and throat of an infected person through coughing, sneezing, sharing
food, drinks or kissing.
Symptoms of
bacterial meningitis include sudden onset of fever, headache,
neck pain or stiffness, vomiting and irritability.
These symptoms
may quickly progress to decreased consciousness, convulsions and
death. For this reason, if any child displays symptoms of possible
meningitis, he or she should receive medical care immediately.
For information
on meningitis, people can call 1-800-361-5653.
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