Meningitis Outbreaks Plague New Jersey and California, Will Your State Be Next?
Houston
by Frankie Milley
Once again, twice again deadly meningococcal meningitis has struck!
With the season of colds and flu coming and lower immunization rates across the board we are sure to see more outbreaks as people begin coughing and sneezing.
Recent outbreaks of the disease have struck college campuses both in New Jersey and California.
One has to wonder where it will strike next.
Meningitis does not stop at the dorm room door. A few years ago Oklahoma saw an outbreak with 6 children in a first grade class fall ill in less than 48 hours with the disease. Two died and one lost legs, arms and most of his face. A man's hockey team in Colorado was struck with several victim deaths.
New York and California just this past summer experienced an outbreak in the Gay community again with several deaths.
Before Texas developed strong requirements beginning in 2001, several outbreaks were reported. My only child, Ryan died with the disease and one year later an outbreak occurred in the same small East Texas school district he attended. That outbreak saw 15 more cases with death and loss of limbs.
Anyone can get meningitis especially infants, children and teens.
Other preventatives include not eating or drinking after each other, even in families. Don’t share makeup, cigarettes, or tooth brushes. Follow all hygiene rules including, covering your mouth or nose when sneezing, washing your hands, avoid those who appear sick, brushing teeth and using good anti bacterial mouth wash frequently.
Because experts believe that smokers have a higher carrier rate, Don't Smoke and you may want to refrain from sharing saliva (kissing) with those who do especially in the areas of outbreak.
If it has been more than 3 years since your last meningitis shot you should talk to your health care provider about taking it again.
When we have group B vaccine available in the US it must be added to our recommendations. We can stop this deadly disease.
On a side note, for now, maybe the universities where the outbreaks are occurring should move ahead with holiday shutdown along with vaccinations, strong warnings about prevention, signs and symptoms.
For more information about meningitis visit www.Meningitis-Angels.org or www.CDC.gov
You can reach Frankie Milley from the website by clicking, Contact Us.
by Frankie Milley
Once again, twice again deadly meningococcal meningitis has struck!
With the season of colds and flu coming and lower immunization rates across the board we are sure to see more outbreaks as people begin coughing and sneezing.
Recent outbreaks of the disease have struck college campuses both in New Jersey and California.
One has to wonder where it will strike next.
Meningitis does not stop at the dorm room door. A few years ago Oklahoma saw an outbreak with 6 children in a first grade class fall ill in less than 48 hours with the disease. Two died and one lost legs, arms and most of his face. A man's hockey team in Colorado was struck with several victim deaths.
New York and California just this past summer experienced an outbreak in the Gay community again with several deaths.
Before Texas developed strong requirements beginning in 2001, several outbreaks were reported. My only child, Ryan died with the disease and one year later an outbreak occurred in the same small East Texas school district he attended. That outbreak saw 15 more cases with death and loss of limbs.
Anyone can get meningitis especially infants, children and teens.
- What parents and students should know: especially for infants, teens, and young adults
According to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) for the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), children ages 11 through college freshmen age should be vaccinated against meningococcal meningitis. Some of the current vaccines are approved for ages as young as (2) months. Recently a recommendation for high risk infants was passed by the ACIP.
- Please be informed, there are (5) sero-groups of the disease, all sero-groups are not covered with the current US approved vaccine. However the most common forms striking adolescents and college students in the United States are sero-groups C and Y and are covered by the current approved vaccines.
Other preventatives include not eating or drinking after each other, even in families. Don’t share makeup, cigarettes, or tooth brushes. Follow all hygiene rules including, covering your mouth or nose when sneezing, washing your hands, avoid those who appear sick, brushing teeth and using good anti bacterial mouth wash frequently.
Because experts believe that smokers have a higher carrier rate, Don't Smoke and you may want to refrain from sharing saliva (kissing) with those who do especially in the areas of outbreak.
If it has been more than 3 years since your last meningitis shot you should talk to your health care provider about taking it again.
- Mostly educate yourself about the early signs and symptoms and seek medical advice/treatment with the appearance of a fever. Meningitis can mimic the flu.
911 Signs and Symptoms of meningitis and meningococcemia may include unrelenting fever, leg pain, cold hands and feet and abnormal skin color and can develop within (12 hours) after infection long before the more classic signs of the illness such as a rash, headache, stiff neck, sensitivity to light and impaired consciousness, debilitation or death.
When we have group B vaccine available in the US it must be added to our recommendations. We can stop this deadly disease.
On a side note, for now, maybe the universities where the outbreaks are occurring should move ahead with holiday shutdown along with vaccinations, strong warnings about prevention, signs and symptoms.
For more information about meningitis visit www.Meningitis-Angels.org or www.CDC.gov
You can reach Frankie Milley from the website by clicking, Contact Us.
Parents Weep as CDC Recommends Meningococcal Vaccines for Only High Risk Infants.
Houston November 1, 2013
By Frankie Milley
Yesterday was Halloween. Sadly, many of the children that survive meningococcal meningitis wear a mask of disfigurement every day. It is the face of destruction left by this vaccine preventable disease. They live everyday with stares, ugly comments, other children screaming or crying, and adults who turn away in disgust at the sight of them.
The once normal lives of infants, children and teens who survive meningococcal disease are often filled with personal insecurities, dependency on others just dress, eat, use the rest room or do all the other daily things that we all take for granted. This is for the rest of their lives. Sometimes they are bullied, yes bullied. Sometimes they die.
As I sat through the October 23 CDC/ACIP hearings and listened to the committee discuss and vote to only recommend the life saving vaccine for use in high risk infants, my heart along with other parents broke.
What determines high risk, we all had to ask ourselves? None of us had what was deemed high risk children, yet we all suffer. I sat there and in my mind, in my heart, I watch my only child, Ryan die a grueling death all over again.
As I stood, to testify, with little 10 year old Jeremiah, from Oklahoma, at my side, his head only reaching the level of my knees due to the loss of his legs, a little boy who can’t care for himself due to the loss of his arms and who suffers the rejection and constant issues from the loss of his face I discussed in this first paragraph I had to reach down to him and ask the committee is this “cost effective”.
The father of one of those infants, from North Carolina, testified how his only son, a once perfect little baby boy was left with the loss of both legs, both arms and over half of his face. Today, five years later his life is filled with pain, constant surgeries and the realization that he is not like nor will he ever be like other kids.
A mom from California who came to testify became physically ill during the discussions and was unable to testify about her perfectly healthy baby going from a fever to her arms and legs being amputated, her little face falling off on her ICU pillow and finally watching her sweet baby die after 40 days in a hospital ICU.
All of us who make up Meningitis Angels from across the country know from personal experience how debilitating and deadly this vaccine preventable disease can be.
We live in a time of concern about wasteful government and personal spending. I say any money spent to protect our children from deadly preventable disease is not a waste. It is the most cost effective way to protect our present and our future. If children had a voice whether or not to receive a vaccine or contract a deadly debilitating disease I believe they would chose vaccine. However they don’t. We have to be that voice of science, reason, care, love, and most of all protection of healthy life. One child, my child, your child lost, is one too many.
We must protect our ALL our children form deadly vaccine preventable disease. It is NOT cost effective to let even one child suffer or die from a preventable disease.
What you should know:
When a vaccine is recommended by the CDC/ACIP, it does not become mandatory. That is done on a state by state public health or legislative policy. However it,
· insures factual education on the disease and the vaccines to prevent it,
· Guarantees accessibility to all children and financial assistance to informed parents who desire to give it to their children.
For more information on meningitis visit www.meningitis-angels.org or www.CDC.gov
You can contact Frankie Milley, Meningitis Angels(MA) founder and national director through the MA website by clicking Contact US.
By Frankie Milley
Yesterday was Halloween. Sadly, many of the children that survive meningococcal meningitis wear a mask of disfigurement every day. It is the face of destruction left by this vaccine preventable disease. They live everyday with stares, ugly comments, other children screaming or crying, and adults who turn away in disgust at the sight of them.
The once normal lives of infants, children and teens who survive meningococcal disease are often filled with personal insecurities, dependency on others just dress, eat, use the rest room or do all the other daily things that we all take for granted. This is for the rest of their lives. Sometimes they are bullied, yes bullied. Sometimes they die.
As I sat through the October 23 CDC/ACIP hearings and listened to the committee discuss and vote to only recommend the life saving vaccine for use in high risk infants, my heart along with other parents broke.
What determines high risk, we all had to ask ourselves? None of us had what was deemed high risk children, yet we all suffer. I sat there and in my mind, in my heart, I watch my only child, Ryan die a grueling death all over again.
As I stood, to testify, with little 10 year old Jeremiah, from Oklahoma, at my side, his head only reaching the level of my knees due to the loss of his legs, a little boy who can’t care for himself due to the loss of his arms and who suffers the rejection and constant issues from the loss of his face I discussed in this first paragraph I had to reach down to him and ask the committee is this “cost effective”.
The father of one of those infants, from North Carolina, testified how his only son, a once perfect little baby boy was left with the loss of both legs, both arms and over half of his face. Today, five years later his life is filled with pain, constant surgeries and the realization that he is not like nor will he ever be like other kids.
A mom from California who came to testify became physically ill during the discussions and was unable to testify about her perfectly healthy baby going from a fever to her arms and legs being amputated, her little face falling off on her ICU pillow and finally watching her sweet baby die after 40 days in a hospital ICU.
All of us who make up Meningitis Angels from across the country know from personal experience how debilitating and deadly this vaccine preventable disease can be.
We live in a time of concern about wasteful government and personal spending. I say any money spent to protect our children from deadly preventable disease is not a waste. It is the most cost effective way to protect our present and our future. If children had a voice whether or not to receive a vaccine or contract a deadly debilitating disease I believe they would chose vaccine. However they don’t. We have to be that voice of science, reason, care, love, and most of all protection of healthy life. One child, my child, your child lost, is one too many.
We must protect our ALL our children form deadly vaccine preventable disease. It is NOT cost effective to let even one child suffer or die from a preventable disease.
What you should know:
When a vaccine is recommended by the CDC/ACIP, it does not become mandatory. That is done on a state by state public health or legislative policy. However it,
· insures factual education on the disease and the vaccines to prevent it,
· Guarantees accessibility to all children and financial assistance to informed parents who desire to give it to their children.
For more information on meningitis visit www.meningitis-angels.org or www.CDC.gov
You can contact Frankie Milley, Meningitis Angels(MA) founder and national director through the MA website by clicking Contact US.
Meningitis Angels Press Releases and Media
Angels Lead Advocacy In Texas
A note from Frankie Milley, Meningitis Angels Founder and Executive National Director, and Ryan's Mom
The following is a press release. This is an exciting time as Texas became the fourth state in the country to require meningococcal meningitis vaccines for 7th grade entry. I am proud to say that I have given written testimony in 3 of those and actually wrote a request for this one. I have worked almost 11 years and dedicated my whole life to this cause in memory of Ryan. It has replaced a huge hole in my heart. Leslie and Harley have been at my side, in Texas, since 2001 . Leslie sometimes, ill because of her kidney disease and Harley , standing on a prosthetic leg, signing her message because she is deaf both form meningitis and Joan who lost her son Vincent in the last few years.
Because of the work Angels do in memory or in honor of their Angels or those Angel victims of meningitis whose lives have been changed forever, we will stop this deadly disease. My love and gratitude is to all of our Angel Family, Friends and Supporters.
HOUSTON, April 26 US News Wire:
Meningitis Angels, a national organization, celebrated World Meningitis Day (WMD) by enjoining Angels from around the world. The organization was founded in memory of Ryan Milley, the only child of Bob and Frankie Milley, and since has grown to include over 600 families in the U.S. and some 30+ abroad.
Frankie Milley serves as the national executive director and also works very hard as a children's health and immunization advocate. Milley, along with Angel meningitis survivors Leslie Meigs of Houston, Harley Beaty of Sheperd and Joan Vasbinder -- mom to son Vincent taken by meningitis -- of Austin, Texas, have been catalysts in the laws and rules for meningitis vaccinations in Texas since 2001. Meigs was 10 years old and Beaty was 5 years old the first time this advocacy team appeared in the Texas Senate.
Most recently Milley led the quest to write the rules request for a middle school entry requirement for Tdap and meningococcal meningitis. Milley, Meigs, Beaty and Vasbinder all testified in the health department hearing on this same rule and led a huge letter writing campaign to make it happen.
Thanks to the amazing immunization leadership and work of the Texas Health Department and support of Texas Senator Robert Deuell, this rule became a requirement as of March 5, 2009.
Milley said, "It was a huge step in protecting the lives of Texas students but was just a step in the ever-growing battle to prevent meningitis around the U.S. I believe to stop this deadly debilitating disease we must follow the CDC/ACIP meningococcal recommendation for ages 11-24 for vaccination, pneumococcal and HIB for infants and toddlers and continue to develop vaccines which will cover infants for the leading strains of meningococcal meningitis including group B not currently covered in the U.S. Infants account for approximately 30% of meningococcal cases in the U.S. "
Most Texas universities either require the vaccine or educate freshmen and require them to sign a wavier of refusal. Milley commends Senator Davis for writing a bill requiring college freshmen living in dorms to be vaccinated. However she said the bill, while great, will exclude 70+% of the college freshmen who are at high risk for meningitis. There are many who attend junior colleges and live off campus. Many who have contracted the disease and even died with it. This includes Milley's son who just two months after his death would have started college but would not have lived on campus. This bill should include ALL college freshmen.
Angels hosted a booth of awareness for WMD, April 25, at the Texas Crawfish Festival in Old Town Spring, an international candle lighting service for all those whose lives taken by meningitis, and they distributed flower seed packets around the world of Forget-me-Nots to remind everyone -- kids are still dying or seriously debilitated from a vaccine preventable disease.
meningitis, bacterial meningitis, viral meningitis, meningococcal meningitis, causes of meningitis, sings of meningitis,pneumococcal meningitis,pertussis, vccines, infants, teen vaccination,national , foundation,america, meningitis, college meningitis,
The following is a press release. This is an exciting time as Texas became the fourth state in the country to require meningococcal meningitis vaccines for 7th grade entry. I am proud to say that I have given written testimony in 3 of those and actually wrote a request for this one. I have worked almost 11 years and dedicated my whole life to this cause in memory of Ryan. It has replaced a huge hole in my heart. Leslie and Harley have been at my side, in Texas, since 2001 . Leslie sometimes, ill because of her kidney disease and Harley , standing on a prosthetic leg, signing her message because she is deaf both form meningitis and Joan who lost her son Vincent in the last few years.
Because of the work Angels do in memory or in honor of their Angels or those Angel victims of meningitis whose lives have been changed forever, we will stop this deadly disease. My love and gratitude is to all of our Angel Family, Friends and Supporters.
HOUSTON, April 26 US News Wire:
Meningitis Angels, a national organization, celebrated World Meningitis Day (WMD) by enjoining Angels from around the world. The organization was founded in memory of Ryan Milley, the only child of Bob and Frankie Milley, and since has grown to include over 600 families in the U.S. and some 30+ abroad.
Frankie Milley serves as the national executive director and also works very hard as a children's health and immunization advocate. Milley, along with Angel meningitis survivors Leslie Meigs of Houston, Harley Beaty of Sheperd and Joan Vasbinder -- mom to son Vincent taken by meningitis -- of Austin, Texas, have been catalysts in the laws and rules for meningitis vaccinations in Texas since 2001. Meigs was 10 years old and Beaty was 5 years old the first time this advocacy team appeared in the Texas Senate.
Most recently Milley led the quest to write the rules request for a middle school entry requirement for Tdap and meningococcal meningitis. Milley, Meigs, Beaty and Vasbinder all testified in the health department hearing on this same rule and led a huge letter writing campaign to make it happen.
Thanks to the amazing immunization leadership and work of the Texas Health Department and support of Texas Senator Robert Deuell, this rule became a requirement as of March 5, 2009.
Milley said, "It was a huge step in protecting the lives of Texas students but was just a step in the ever-growing battle to prevent meningitis around the U.S. I believe to stop this deadly debilitating disease we must follow the CDC/ACIP meningococcal recommendation for ages 11-24 for vaccination, pneumococcal and HIB for infants and toddlers and continue to develop vaccines which will cover infants for the leading strains of meningococcal meningitis including group B not currently covered in the U.S. Infants account for approximately 30% of meningococcal cases in the U.S. "
Most Texas universities either require the vaccine or educate freshmen and require them to sign a wavier of refusal. Milley commends Senator Davis for writing a bill requiring college freshmen living in dorms to be vaccinated. However she said the bill, while great, will exclude 70+% of the college freshmen who are at high risk for meningitis. There are many who attend junior colleges and live off campus. Many who have contracted the disease and even died with it. This includes Milley's son who just two months after his death would have started college but would not have lived on campus. This bill should include ALL college freshmen.
Angels hosted a booth of awareness for WMD, April 25, at the Texas Crawfish Festival in Old Town Spring, an international candle lighting service for all those whose lives taken by meningitis, and they distributed flower seed packets around the world of Forget-me-Nots to remind everyone -- kids are still dying or seriously debilitated from a vaccine preventable disease.
meningitis, bacterial meningitis, viral meningitis, meningococcal meningitis, causes of meningitis, sings of meningitis,pneumococcal meningitis,pertussis, vccines, infants, teen vaccination,national , foundation,america, meningitis, college meningitis,