Viral meningitis on rise in O.C.

HEALTH: The number of confirmed cases has tripled, part of a statewide increase.

June 24, 1998

By LIZ KOWALCZYK
The Orange County Register

Viral-meningitis cases have tripled in Orange County this year, part of an unexplained rise in cases statewide.

So far in 1998, the Health Care Agency has recorded 174 confirmed cases of the illness, a nasty nervous-system infection marked by pounding headaches, a stiff neck and nausea, said Dr. Hildy Meyers, medical director of epidemiology for the county.

And those are just the sick people the agency knows about. Last year at this time, health officials had 58 cases.

"We're seeing a sizable number of cases," agreed Dr. David Lang, director of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital of Orange County in Orange. "What we know about is just the tip of the iceberg."

Unlike the more vicious bacterial meningitis, viral meningitis is rarely fatal. But it isn't treatable with antibiotics, and the sick must simply wait for their illness to run its course.

Cases appear to be soaring statewide, too: 575 confirmed cases as of May 2, compared with 267 for the same period last year. The result: working parents home in bed, and children sleeping it off in the hospital.

"Adults bounce back much more slowly than kids," said Dr. Donald Forthal, an infectious-disease specialist at UCI Medical Center. "Adults will have a headache and not feel quite right for a couple of weeks."

But children are often admitted to the hospital until bacterial meningitis is ruled out, Lang said.

Meyers said outbreaks of viral meningitis occur every four or five years. The last one was in 1992, when the county recorded 718 confirmed cases.

The reason for this cycle is not completely understood, but health officials believe the population swings between periods of high and low resistance to the disease. A period of low resistance might occur when a new crop of children enters school and is suddenly exposed to new viruses, which the children catch and then pass on to their parents.

Meningitis is caused by different viruses that have one thing in common: They invade the lining of the brain and spinal cord, making them swell and ache.

Washing one's hands and not sharing drinking glasses are the best defenses against viral meningitis.

"It's a little reminder to practice good hygiene," Meyers said.