Bacterial disease fatal to O.C. teen

HEALTH: The Anaheim girl, 13, a Lexington Junior High student, dies of meningitis.

September 24, 1998

By LIZ KOWALCZYK
The Orange County Register

A 13-year-old Anaheim girl died Wednesday of fast-moving bacterial meningitis, and the hospital where she was treated is watching employees for signs of the infection.

Ashley Williams went into cardiac arrest about 5 a.m. as she was rushed from West Anaheim Medical Center to UCI Medical Center in Orange, said UCI spokeswoman Kim Pine.

Williams, who attended Lexington Junior High in Cypress, died at UCI. She was diagnosed at West Anaheim after being admitted about 1:30 Wednesday morning.

"She was feeling real sick and tired, and she had a fever," said West Anaheim spokeswoman Debra Culver. "Obviously, she was contagious. Our hospital is making sure that our employees are being watched."

Dr. Hildy Meyers, director of communicable disease and epidemiology for the county Health Care Agency, said a public-health nurse visited Williams' school Wednesday to find out if any friends or classmates had been exposed to the disease.

Bacterial meningitis is rarely spread through the air when someone coughs. Usually it takes direct contact with the infected person's saliva through kissing or sharing food or cigarettes. It is treated with antibiotics. The most common and dangerous type is caused by the meningococcal bacteria. Meyers said that's probably what Williams had.

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News researcher Dick Glasow contributed to this story.