It was almost two years ago when thousands of students lined up in IM Sports-West, waiting to receive a free meningococcus vaccine.
Music education sophomore Adam Busuttil had come down with the Y strain of bacterial meningitis that left him without portions of his fingers.
Busuttil was given a clean bill of health in January.
In 1997, MSU saw similar lines after two students died from the disease, a potentially fatal inflammation of the brain and spinal cord.
But after two years without a case of meningitis reported on campus, some people fear the need for a vaccination may not be taken as seriously.
“It’s just human nature,” University Physician Beth Alexander said. “Any time there’s any kind of scary, dramatic health event, people pay more attention to their health.”
Alexander said while the number of MSU students keeping up with vaccinations is around 60 percent - higher than the national average - it is important for immunization to be a lifelong commitment.
MSU began sending informational letters about immunizations to incoming students last year. Students 18 years and older can check and update their own immunization record at www.immunize.msu.edu.
MSU recommends, but does not require, vaccinations for hepatitis B, varicella (chicken pox), tetanus/diptheria and meningococcus.
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association said college freshmen living in residence halls are more likely to contract meningitis.
Sixty-eight of the study’s 79 student subjects could have avoided having meningitis with a vaccination. Each shot costs about $80 - another reason many students try to avoid them.
During the campuswide vaccination periods in 1999, 16,000 students received the shot for free.
“The university cannot be in the business of providing free vaccines,” Alexander said. “Students have a lot of other things to think about, and when you’re in close quarters and classrooms, it’s very easy to forget about it.”
In response to the lackluster immunization performance, Busuttil is supporting a bill that was passed by the state House last spring requiring state universities and high schools to provide information about meningitis.
The original proposal would have required university students to receive the vaccination before moving into residence halls, but was changed to avoid providing a false sense of security.
The bill would have to pass in the state Senate in the fall before it would be signed into law.
“I think it will be approved,” Busuttil said. “I never thought about vaccinations before I got sick. I don’t think anybody did. That’s the whole point.
“When it happens, it’s a big scare, but then it dies down. It won’t be a big scare and people will just go on without it until it happens to someone else.”
A representative from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Immunization Hotline said the most dangerous thing about meningitis is that its symptoms appear to be cold- or flu-like.
“There’s a much higher risk at that point,” he said. “It’s something that people who stay up late or fatigued all the time won’t notice - like college students.”
For more information about vaccinations at MSU, visit www.olin.msu.edu.
