In May, the ARS of Brittany will launch a vaccination campaign against meningitis B in a high school in Dinan. Two of his high school students contracted an infection.
All students at the La-Fontaine-des-Eaux high school in Dinan (Côtes-d’Armor) will be vaccinated against meningitis B. Two young people from the establishment recently contracted an invasive meningococcal infection. The Brittany Regional Health Agency has therefore planned a vaccination campaign on May 11 and 12. She made the announcement on April 28, during a meeting with the parents of students.
Vaccination will be limited to high school students attending La-Fontaine-des-Eaux. To rule, the ARS analyzed the meningococci taken from the two teenagers. They were compared to the strains taken in December, from pupils of the Jean-Monnet de Broons college (Côtes-d’Armor).
The city is located about twenty kilometers from Dinan and the Agency feared an epidemic. It is on the basis of these negative results that the ARS chose not to expand the vaccination campaign.
2,000 students targeted
The two high school students from Dinan contracted symptoms of meningitis in the middle of April. Both were enrolled in the same high school and were briefly hospitalized. Informed of these cases, the ARS contacted all the close people likely to have been contaminated. In fact, group B meningococcus is transmitted by droplets of saliva.
Family, class neighbors and close friends were therefore offered preventive antibiotic treatment. At the same time, the ARS sent an information letter to the 2,000 students who attend the La-Fontaine-des-Eaux high school. The document invites them to consult a doctor in the event of signs of meningitis: stiff neck, violent headaches, high fever, intolerance to light, nausea, vomiting.
Meningococcus is a very fragile bacterium that does not survive in the environment. On the other hand, it is easily transmitted by droplets of saliva. Without treatment, the disease progresses rapidly and can be fatal.
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