If you're going to college, particularly if you plan to live in a dorm setting, experts recommend you get a meningitis vaccination.
According to Dr. Michael Koller, associate professor of medicine at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, you should get that vaccine before leaving for school.
Meningitis is an inflammation/infection of the tissue lining the brain and spinal cord. It tends to affect college students, and very young children and their caretakers - anywhere where people are crowded together. Koller says, "A college dormitory is an ideal setting for meningitis. Meningitis is more likely to spread in crowded living quarters like you have in a dormitory or a military barrack."
There are two types of meningitis - bacterial and viral. The viral is the less threatening of the two, and most people with this type get better a few weeks after treatment. The bacterial can cause blindness, deafness and even death. It must be treated immediately.
Symptoms of meningitis include a stiff neck, severe headache and flu-like symptoms.
Even if you think you just have a flu, you should get it checked. It's better to be safe than sorry, especially when it comes to something as potentially deadly as meningitis.
Not sure you know enough about meningitis? Take the meningitis awareness quiz.
Source:
Press Release. Loyola University Health System.Physicians Warn Freshmen Face Higher Risk from Meningitis, Which Can Kill Quickly. Aug 17 2010.
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