Two students died of an invasive meningococcal infection declared at the University of Burgundy. Its president addresses families.
Three cases of invasive meningococcal infection have been reported among students at the University of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Two of them died, reports the newspaper on Good public, which quotes a press release from the Regional Health Agency (ARS) published late this Friday evening. She is a student in the 1st year of a Master GRH and a student in the 3rd year of a law degree. The third person’s state of health seems to be developing favorably.
On Facebook, the president of the university, Alain Bonnin, spoke with emotion. “This death comes a few weeks after that, just as brutal, of a student in the 3rd year of the Law degree. Here I want to tell his family and friends that our University community is thinking of them, ”he wrote.
The cases were declared between October and December 2016. The agency calls for the greatest vigilance. “The occurrence over a period of two months, of three cases within the student environment, in young adults of the same age group, holds the attention of the health authorities”, indicates the ARS which specifies to have “proceeded to the search for people who have had close and repeated contact with the students, to recommend antibiotic prophylaxis and vaccination ”.
“Evocative signs”
The Regional Health Agency has also informed health professionals of this situation, so that they deploy “particular vigilance vis-à-vis patients presenting signs suggestive of the disease”.
One of the two deceased is a 20-year-old student, who was in the 3rd year of a license at the Faculty of Law of Dijon. She died Thursday, October 20, 2016 at the Dijon Hospital Center, specifies France 3 Burgundy.
Meningitis is inflammation of the meninges, the envelopes of the brain and the spinal cord. The disease is often linked to infection of these envelopes by a virus or a bacterium (more rarely a fungus or a parasite). Meningitis can occur at any age, but it most affects children and adolescents.
In adults and older children, meningitis most often results in a combination of signs called “meningeal syndrome”. This most often combines: severe headaches (“headaches”), stiff neck, high fever, intolerance to light (“photophobia”) and nausea or vomiting. If in doubt, consult quickly.
With an incidence rate (number of cases reported to the population) of 0.72 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, the disease remains rare in France.
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