While sitting in her Haslett home, Pat Bezdek saw her daughter's residence hall on a television news report Friday night.
Her daughter had called the night before saying one of her floormates was taken to the hospital with an illness similar to meningitis.
Thirty minutes after seeing the news report, she was with residents in a Hubbard Hall classroom looking for answers.
A female journalism sophomore living on the building's ninth floor contracted meningococcemia, a disease similar to bacterial meningitis. She remains in Lansing's Sparrow Hospital, but her name and condition have not been released per her family's request.
There have been six cases of meningitis at MSU since 1996. Three of them were fatal.
Bezdek sat among students clutching white fliers that read "Meningococcal Disease" at the top. Surrounded by TV news cameras, the students talked among themselves.
As Olin Health Center Director Glynda Moorer took her place in front of the podium, the crowd fell silent.
She read a press release with information on the illness and the students' safety.
"This student's illness is not vaccine-preventable," Moorer said.
Gasps and murmurs filled the room.
From the back of the room, Bezdek loudly asked her question: "Are any of the students going to be tested for the disease?"
Moorer answered only students who suspect they have the symptoms of meningitis or meningococcemia can be tested at their own will. She also said students in close proximity of the patient do not necessarily have to be tested.
Health officials have tracked down 10 people who were in close contact with the infected student and have offered them preventative antibiotics, MSU spokeswoman Deb Pozega Osburn said.
Moorer recommended students take general precautions, such as washing hands frequently and getting a lot of sleep.
Bezdek left the meeting a little less worried, but still concerned.
"I'm not as worried as I was earlier," she said. "I'm thankful for the meeting, but for the parents that live far away, it could have been handled differently.
"I just wish more people had known about this meeting."
Music education senior Adam Busuttil was out of town when news of the student's illness broke.
Busuttil, who had the type-Y strain of bacterial meningitis in October, 1999, lobbied unsuccessfully in 2001 for a measure that would make the vaccine mandatory for college students.
"I'll never get rid of the haunting of meningitis," he said.
Busuttil was hospitalized in Lansing for three weeks and then sent to a hospital in Kentucky, where he underwent amputations because of the disease. He said the best way to avoid the disease is simply to be careful.
"It really hits close to home," he said. "It was a horrible thing for me, and I'm sure it is for her family and friends as well. I know what they're going through and it's not fun."
