Central Greene officials confirm meningitis case
WAYNESBURG – Central Greene School District confirmed Monday that a staff member at the Margaret Bell Miller Middle School has been diagnosed with bacterial meningitis. Dr. Jerome Bartley, district superintendent, said the unidentified staff member was diagnosed with a low-level strain of bacterial meningitis generally transmitted by direct personal contact.
Students are not at high risk of developing meningitis; however, Bartley said parents are being cautioned to monitor their children for symptoms.
“This type of meningitis can only be transmitted through sharing food, drinking glasses, eating utensils, tissues or towels,” he said. “The infection is usually spread through people who are in close contact with each other, such as those who live together.”
Bartley said the staff member was diagnosed Friday.
School officials and parents of about 70 children who came in close contact with the infected staff member were immediately notified, he said.
No other cases of meningitis in the school district were reported as of Monday.
“We took a proactive approach,” Bartley said, noting that no treatment is necessary unless a person experiences symptoms, which include fever, headache, stiff neck, rashes or seizures.
Bartley said the state Health Department confirmed that the type of bacterial meningitis is not high risk.
“Casual contact at school or work with someone who has this type of meningitis will generally not cause it to spread,” he said.
Meningitis is an infection of the fluid that surrounds a person’s spinal cord and brain, according to the Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Web site.
The Web site indicates bacterial meningitis is not spread by casual contact and is treated with antibiotics, which are most effective when the infection is caught early.