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CNN Live At Daybreak

In Ohio, Health Officials Prepare for Mass Inoculation

Aired June 08, 2001 - 07:12   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: In Ohio, health officials are getting ready for a mass inoculation against a meningitis-related disease.

CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is in Beloit, Ohio, with more details.

Good morning, Elizabeth.

We know how the California incidents came about, but have they been able to solve this mystery in Ohio?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know what, Carol, a doctor at the Centers for Disease Control told us just that: She said this will always remain a mystery. And that's because, at any given time, about 10 percent of us are carriers for the bacteria that causes meningitis, and that means that the bacteria lives in the carrier; the carrier doesn't get sick, but then for reasons that are unknown the carrier then transmits it to someone who does get sick. And that's what happened here in northeastern Ohio.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN: (voice-over) In just two days, 2,000 people called this public health hot line in Ohio, wanting to know, among other things, did they have meningitis...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Headache, severe headache, and then sometimes that could be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, confusion.

COHEN: ... and where would they get vaccinated. The state health department plans on vaccinating nearly 6,000 students, faculty and staff at six area high schools Friday. The principal at this school where two students died of meningitis hope the vaccines will make people less scared of his students.

LOU RAMUNNO, SUPERINTENDENT, WEST BRANCH SCHOOLS: A lot of the teams that are going out and playing other teams are being shunned. They're asked not to come. They're saying, If you come, our kids aren't going to play.

COHEN: The vaccination program isn't making everyone happy. Students can get shots only if they attend one of six designated high schools.

Sue Neiswonger's daughter doesn't go to one of those six schools, but does work in a restaurant in Alliance.

SUE NEISWONGER: Nobody has any idea that the girl that's working right beside her might have been in contact with the girl that died. We have no idea, right?

COHEN: But public health officials have tried to explain that only close contact, such as kissing or sharing utensils, spreads meningitis, not casual contact like working next to someone.

MATT STEFANAK, MAHONING COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT: If you ride the same school bus or drink from the same public water fountain, if you go to the same restaurant, you're at no risk for increased risk for exposure to meningococcal disease.

COHEN (on camera): Another concern among residents here is that the two students who died went to one school. A third student, who's still in the hospital, went to a different school. None of the three had contact with each other. So why did they get sick while others didn't?

DR. PRATIMA RAGHUNATHAN, CDC: That's something we'll never really know, and that's one of the mysteries of this kind of outbreak.

COHEN: Health authorities say they can't predict if there will be any more cases, but they say, so far, they haven't seen case number four and hope they never will.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

This kind of vaccination program is unprecedented in the state of Ohio, but does happen about four or five times a year, against meningitis, in other parts of the United States -- Carol.

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