Full recovery expected for Folsom student with meningitis

A student at Vista del Lago High School in Folsom diagnosed with bacterial meningitis remains hospitalized but is expected to make a full recovery, a Sacramento County Health and Human Services Department spokeswoman said Monday.

The unidentified student was confirmed Saturday to have been infected with bacterial meningitis. Parents within the district were notified of the case on the same day.

Laura McCasland, spokeswoman for the health department, said the agency since then has been identifying other students who came in close contact with the patient so that each can start a regimen of antibiotics before developing signs of illness.

McCasland said she is urging parents with questions to review the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website for symptoms, which may include fever, headache, stiff neck and other issues such as nausea and vomiting. Students who develop those symptoms “should contact their doctor and say, ‘I think my son or daughter has meningitis’ ” and then follow the doctor’s direction of how to proceed, she said.

The health department has not encountered any other meningitis case stemming from the exposed student, she said. Sources of the illness can be difficult to determine because individuals can be carriers of the bacteria but show no symptoms.

McCasland said families are being urged to check vaccination records. “We are recommending that students get the (meningitis) vaccination if they have have not been vaccinated,” she said.

On Monday, Vista del Lago Principal John Dixon updated families via email about the hospitalized student’s condition.

Dixon’s letter to families said the source of the illness is not known. “What we do know, however, is that early identification and treatment was paramount in this case,” he said.

This story was originally published May 23, 2016 at 4:31 PM with the headline "Full recovery expected for Folsom student with meningitis."