West Hollywood Warns of Potential Meningitis Risk

The City of West Hollywood today issued a warning regarding meningococcal infection, a bacteria-caused illness that can lead to potentially deadly meningitis, after a case was reported in Los Angeles County.

“We don't want to panic people,” Councilman John Duran said in a press release. “But we learned 30 years ago the consequences of delay in the response to AIDS. We are sounding the alarm that sexually active gay men need to be aware that we have a strain of meningitis that is deadly on our hands."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, bacterial meningitis can cause serious complications, such as brain damage, hearing loss, or learning disabilities.

Infectious diseases such as meningococcal infection tend to spread more quickly where larger groups of people gather together, as well as to people with weakened immune systems, such as those living with HIV/AIDS, the city’s press release said.

The germs that cause bacterial meningitis can spread through the exchange of respiratory and throat secretions—for example, when kissing. Most of the bacteria that cause meningitis are not as contagious as diseases such as the common cold or the flu, and they are not spread by casual contact or by simply breathing the air where a person with meningitis has been, the city’s press release said.

Meningitis infection may show up in a person with a sudden onset of fever, headache, and stiff neck. It will often have other symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, increased sensitivity to light and confusion, which typically develop within three to seven days after exposure, the city said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was alerted about a Los Angeles County case of meningococcal infection. Tests were being conducted to determine the imprint of this strain, which is not a new one. There may be similarities to an especially deadly strain of meningococcal infection found recently in New York City that resulted in 22 cases, including seven fatalities since 2010, the city’s warning said.

 The outbreak in New York City involved a strain circulating among men who had sex with men and it may be transmitted during intimate encounters including sex.