CV history was made on Tuesday, November 14 as the Los Angeles County Health Department was notified that two students from CV tested positive for bacterial meningococcal meningitis. Faculty, parents, and the Los Angeles County Health Department joined together to prevent the spread of the disease.

“When a person has been confirmed to have a communicative disease, by law, the school must report the case to our district,” explained Dr. Nandini Sodhi, M.D. of the Los Angeles County Health Department.

The school started discussions with the Acute Communicable Disease Control Program of the Los Angeles Department of Public Health and the Glendale Public Health Department to organize a plan of action. Since the disease is transmitted through close contact and exposure to bodily secretions, it was crucial to notify each department prior to the onset of an outbreak of the illness.

The bacterial meningitis has an incubation period of two to ten days after exposure. Thus, if someone was incubating the bacteria, the symptoms may not reveal themselves during or after the incubation period. Any students who had similar symptoms to those exhibited by the affected students were sent to the Verdugo Hills Hospital for further testing.

This rare disease is most common between late winter and early spring. There are one to two cases for every 100,000 people, with 300 to 400 cases occurring in California. Meningitis most commonly occurs in college dormitories where close contact and the sharing of food and drinks is common.

Within a few hours, measures were taken to set up a clinic in the CV gymnasium that administered the antibiotic Ciprofloxacin, in the form of a single orally ingested pill, to students accompanied by their parent or guardian.

“Any student who had exposure to the disease may not have shown the symptoms. The antibiotic would kill the bacteria if someone was incubating the bacteria,” explained Sodhi.

It was necessary for the medication to be provided to the entire student body and faculty because the two cases were unrelated. The two students, a senior female and a junior male whose names have been witheld for privacy, were not acquainted, and the source was not yet identified.

“There is a low risk at this point because the two cases have been isolated, and the antibiotic has killed the bacteria in any student who may have been exposed to the disease,” said Sodhi.

To prevent the chance of an outbreak, students are advised not to share food or drinks with friends and to wash their hands thoroughly and frequently.