South Florida Groups Not Losing Sleep Over NYC, California Meningitis Cases

While South Florida officials are monitoring the bacterial meningitis outbreak in New York, little is being done to combat it outside of educating the public and healthcare professionals.

Bacterial meningitis is spread through saliva, meaning one could contract it simply from sharing drinks or cigarettes. The disease causes inflammation of the spinal cord and brain, leading to severe headache, fever, stiff neck and more severe neurological symptoms. In some people, the disease takes effect quickly. Some men in New York were found dead in their beds, probably thinking they just had a bad cold.

Dr. Paula Thaqi, director of the Florida Department of Health in Broward County, gave SFGN a list of actions taken by the department. This includes ongoing communication with New York City officials, distributing posters and palm cards, with information on the disease to businesses, notifying area hospitals and emergency rooms, and continuing to monitor the meningitis database.

However, no one is offering free meningitis vaccines, something many would like to see. Only children up to 18 can receive the vaccine for free. Different pharmacies and health groups offer the vaccine, which can cost up to $150.

In New York City, 22 men have been infected with meningitis since 2010 and seven have died, according to a release from the New York City Department of Health. All men who have sex with men were encouraged to get the meningitis vaccine as a precaution, and the recommendation was expanded to the entire state of New York in late March.

In May, the Sun Sentinel reported that South Florida was a region alerted to the expansion of recommendations. However, Jeffrey Hammond, a spokesman with the New York State Department of Health, told SFGN he was not aware of any special alert, just a press release put on the site.

Many places are offering free vaccines, including a doctor in New York who brings the vaccine with him to a popular sex club there to spread the word.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which has multiple offices in the community, offered them in California after a 33-year-old gay man, Brett Shaad, died from the disease in Los Angeles on April 13.

Shaad, a real estate agent who was moving into the nonprofit world, was taken off life support after he was brain dead from meningitis, according to the Sacramento Bee. No one seems to know how he contracted the illness.
About a week later, the Los Angeles health department determined that the strain of meningitis that killed Shaad was not the same that was killing gay men in New York City, according to CBS Los Angeles.

Even without the same genetic fingerprint, AHF in California began offering free meningitis vaccines at its locations. However, South Florida was not considered an area that needs it.

"AHF offered the meningitis for free in Los Angeles in response to the death of a man in the gay community," Lori Yeghiayan Friedman, the associate director of communications at AHF said.

When SFGN asked if AHF would offer the vaccine if a gay man died in South Florida, she replied, "We simply have not seen a need for it in South Florida at this time. Should a need arise, AHF would definitely consider it."

Tony Plakas, the CEO of gay and lesbian community center Compass in Lake Worth, pointed out that the disease is more easily transmissible than AIDS, since one can contract it just from being in close contact, plus the fact that so many people travel to the Big Apple.

However, he also understands the fine line between educating and causing a panic.

"We don't want to be alarmist but there's no reason to not move forward and educate," he said.

The state department has a "robust disease surveillance system" that already monitors cases of meningitis around Florida, said Molly Koon Kellogg, press secretary for the Florida Department of Health.

Tim O'Connor of the Palm Beach County health department said that although there haven't been any cases of the same strain found in NYC, the department recommends that those at risk should get the vaccine.

Even without the vaccine being offered for free, Plakas is optimistic about the position the community is at: Word is getting out, and unlike AIDS, there is already a vaccine available.

"This is a new world, a new ability to educate information," he said.