captstanm1
02-19-2003, 07:05 AM
JACKSONVILLE.COM
5 fire, medical officers treated in meningitis case
By Jessie-Lynne Kerr
Times-Union staff writer
Five Duval County firefighters and paramedics were given antibiotics as a protective measure Sunday after taking a patient believed to have bacterial meningitis to Baptist Beaches Hospital.
Florida cases
Florida Department of Health statistics show that through Feb. 1, 29 cases of bacterial meningitis were reported statewide this year. A total of 210 cases were reported in the state for 2002. A year ago, a 13-year-old Middleburg boy was hospitalized with bacterial meningitis and his family and friends were given antibiotics. And in 2001, summer school students at the University of North Florida were urged to get vaccinated against the disease after three students were hospitalized. The college students and the Middleburg boy recovered. But in March 2001, a Bartram Trail High School 17-year-old died of the disease.
Three firefighters from the Jacksonville Beach Fire Department and two Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department firefighter-paramedics were given the antibiotics in what a fire official called a routine measure.
No one would identify the patient by name, gender or age.
The patient's initial bloodwork did not indicate that the disease is the feared Neisseria meningitis, one of the bacterial forms of meningitis, said Patricia Frank, spokeswoman for the Duval County Health Department.
"There is no reason for the public to be concerned," Frank said.
Results of a final culture of the patient's blood will not be available until today, Frank said. Meningitis is an infection of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. It is a serious disease that can cause permanent brain damage or death unless diagnosed promptly and treated with antibiotics.
The initial symptoms of headache, fever, nausea and vomiting, neck stiffness and intolerance of light may progress to coma within hours.
Giving the firefighters and paramedics prophylactic antibiotics is done as a routine measure, said Capt. Murray Kramer, health and welfare officer for the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department.
"We do it every other week on cases," Kramer said, "and a lot of time it is given prior to the diagnosis."
Staff writer Jessie-Lynne Kerr can be reached at (904) 359-4374 or via e-mail at jkerrjacksonville.com.
5 fire, medical officers treated in meningitis case
By Jessie-Lynne Kerr
Times-Union staff writer
Five Duval County firefighters and paramedics were given antibiotics as a protective measure Sunday after taking a patient believed to have bacterial meningitis to Baptist Beaches Hospital.
Florida cases
Florida Department of Health statistics show that through Feb. 1, 29 cases of bacterial meningitis were reported statewide this year. A total of 210 cases were reported in the state for 2002. A year ago, a 13-year-old Middleburg boy was hospitalized with bacterial meningitis and his family and friends were given antibiotics. And in 2001, summer school students at the University of North Florida were urged to get vaccinated against the disease after three students were hospitalized. The college students and the Middleburg boy recovered. But in March 2001, a Bartram Trail High School 17-year-old died of the disease.
Three firefighters from the Jacksonville Beach Fire Department and two Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department firefighter-paramedics were given the antibiotics in what a fire official called a routine measure.
No one would identify the patient by name, gender or age.
The patient's initial bloodwork did not indicate that the disease is the feared Neisseria meningitis, one of the bacterial forms of meningitis, said Patricia Frank, spokeswoman for the Duval County Health Department.
"There is no reason for the public to be concerned," Frank said.
Results of a final culture of the patient's blood will not be available until today, Frank said. Meningitis is an infection of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. It is a serious disease that can cause permanent brain damage or death unless diagnosed promptly and treated with antibiotics.
The initial symptoms of headache, fever, nausea and vomiting, neck stiffness and intolerance of light may progress to coma within hours.
Giving the firefighters and paramedics prophylactic antibiotics is done as a routine measure, said Capt. Murray Kramer, health and welfare officer for the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department.
"We do it every other week on cases," Kramer said, "and a lot of time it is given prior to the diagnosis."
Staff writer Jessie-Lynne Kerr can be reached at (904) 359-4374 or via e-mail at jkerrjacksonville.com.