As health officials announced the fourth case of meningitis at UC Santa Barbara, many students at the coastal campus said Tuesday they were unsettled by the outbreak and were taking extra precautions ahead of exams next week.
"It's such an obscure, scary disease, so a lot of students are concerned," said Jonathan Abboud, 21, a political science major who is the student government president. "A lot of students aren't sharing drinks and food as much as they used to because that's one less thing to get us sick.... It's on everyone's mind."
Olivia Ravasio is wiping countertops more often and washing dishes thoroughly in the sorority house near campus that she shares with 15 other women.
"The paranoia is absolutely terrible," Ravasio, a 20-year-old senior, said in an email. "Wake up and your neck hurts. On any other day, you think nothing of it, but now it's like, 'Should I go to the hospital? Why does my head hurt? Better safe than sorry?'"
Students were being urged to avoid social gatherings, while sororities and fraternities were advised against holding parties and other events to avoid transmission of the meningococcal disease, a serious bacterial infection that causes inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. It can cause long-term damage and death.
Meanwhile, officials at Princeton University were battling an outbreak of a similar bacteria contracted by eight students at the Ivy League campus since March.
"It's pretty unusual to have two outbreaks at the same time," said Tom Clark, chief of the meningitis branch at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Last year, we had about 500 cases of meningococcal disease in the nation, and 98% are sporadic and occur by themselves with no secondary cases. Only in about 2% of cases does transmission occur."
There currently is no treatment licensed in the U.S. to combat the type of bacteria that has struck the two campuses. Because of the seriousness of the situation, the CDC and local health officials moved to import a vaccine licensed in Europe and Australia and are recommending that all Princeton undergraduates, as well as graduate students living in undergraduate dorms and others, be inoculated.
Clark said it hasn't been determined whether such measures were needed in Santa Barbara. He said most outbreaks were limited to three or four cases and stressed that the general population faces little risk.
"Late adolescence and young adulthood are times of increased risk for meningococcal disease in part because young people often interact closely with their peers, face-to-face, so the likelihood of being exposed and getting the bacteria increases even more so on college campuses," Clark said. "It is also why we don't see outbreaks spread outside."
The Santa Barbara cases involve four undergraduate students, three male and one female, who all became infected last month. Two of the students have recovered and are back in class, while a third is on the way to recovery, said campus spokesman George Foulsham.
One of the students, Aaron Loy, suffered a more severe case and both of his feet were amputated, according to an account by his family on the website CaringBridge, a nonprofit charity that offers families facing serious medical conditions personal Web pages.
Health officials are investigating the source of the outbreak, but there is no certainty that the cause will be pinpointed.
"These are students who were not necessarily in direct contact, but you have groups of students who go to class together," said Susan Klein-Rothschild, a spokeswoman for the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department. "On a campus of 20,000 students, deciphering all of the facts and putting it together does take time."
The Santa Barbara campus previously announced that it was providing preventive antibiotics to more than 500 students identified as close contacts of the first students to become ill. The university also is cleansing and disinfecting residence halls, recreation centers and sports facilities.
Abboud said students were working to have the university provide extra supplies of hand sanitizers for the library and other public areas likely to be gathering spots before final exams.
Another student, Peter Fettis, said he was dealing with the outbreak by staying outdoors as much as possible.
"I'm pretty active, and I try to spend as much time outside as I can just surfing, hiking and doing other activities," said Fettis, 21, an environmental studies major. "It's been pretty low-key over the last few weeks getting ready for finals, so I've been avoiding parties because of that and just using my best judgment."
Ravasio's mother, Pat, a Marin County resident, is anxious as well. Her youngest daughter, Micheala, also attends UCSB.
"I can only trust that they're doing what they're supposed to be doing," Pat Ravasio said of the school administration and health officials. Unfortunately, she said, "you can't have your kids come home and stay out of the world."
carla.rivera@latimes.com
Times staff writer Alicia Banks contributed to this report.
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