Meningitis?

M

midmom19

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Jul 26, 2015
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Has anyone heard about or have information about the possibility of a mid having viral meningitis? My intent is not to sound an alarm. I am curious as to the validity of the report.
 
We heard from our Mid that it is a concern. I was not told if it was viral or bacterial.
 
I just read about this on the parents facebook page. So apparently there was a case of bacterial meningitis. The mid was isolated in hospital for several days-maybe ICU at Anne Arundel Med Center?
They have been sanitizing Bancroft like crazy and I think there was a briefing with the mids about it last night. The mid who contracted meningitis is fine and supposedly on his/her way back to Bancroft.
 
My son was at USNA last Th-Sa for CVW. There was a discussion in one of his classes about it due to the vaccine being required. Not sure of anything else but it was a confirmed case.
 
There was no big brief to the Mids. BMU only briefed select upper-class and said that they,

A. Had no plan to brief Mids any further.

B. Only told select Mids about it because of the rumor that got out.
 
Like any college dorm, military barracks, ship, or large living environment like USNA, things like viruses and other things spread like wildfire. The good part... Vaccinations are mandatory at USNA and they can make everyone clean everyday to whatever standard they set! We all know vaccinations aren't full proof as they only protect against certain strains. Company officers and enlisted, medical staff, and leadership are briefed and they work to get ahead of all these things. They also brief Mids on what signs to look for. USNA deals with Plebola outbreaks annually and the occasional flu, strep, mono, bed bug outbreaks and occasional meningitis.
 
NavyHoops said:
Like any college dorm, military barracks, ship, or large living environment like USNA, things like viruses and other things spread like wildfire. The good part... Vaccinations are mandatory at USNA and they can make everyone clean everyday to whatever standard they set! We all know vaccinations aren't full proof as they only protect against certain strains. Company officers and enlisted, medical staff, and leadership are briefed and they work to get ahead of all these things. They also brief Mids on what signs to look for. USNA deals with Plebola outbreaks annually and the occasional flu, strep, mono, bed bug outbreaks and occasional meningitis.
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The big thing that has a lot of people mad about is instead of taking care of the problem and educating people, BMU denied it and covered it up.
 
I'm relieved to hear that the sick Mid is recovering and going to be ok. It sounds as if there has been some rumor/speculation around the incident which is unfortunate yet probably expected. Let's hope this stays an isolated case.
 
Just heard from my mid that there is going to be a brigade-wide meeting today regarding perceived shortcomings in the BMU.
 
Pneumonia, Strep, Mono, Meningitis, Bronchitis, have all been thru The Yard this year. My opinion is, illness is minimized which leads to infection running through the brigade. Often, Mids are told, "Its just Plebe Hack, everyone gets it and its shrugged off like its a right of passage. No one has time to be sick, so Mids often wait to go to BMU; however, advising a MID to take OTC's when they really are presenting with symptoms of pneumonia, is bad practice. These are kids who just months or even a couple years ago, relied on parents to manage their health care. There is no dedicated company "health officer" to monitor illness trends and sanitation. These things are critical in such a petri dish that Bancroft, a sub, or a ship creates. Health care and disease prevention should be job one and the could do a better job.
 
My plebe said that everyone, in every company, did a scrubdown of their rooms, floors, door handles, other surfaces, etc. with some sort of special cleaner.
 
Just a quick comment to this thread. My DD has been sick ("off and on") since Plebe Parent Weekend. Just after the start of classes she was running fevers of 101 and 102, she complained of dizziness------and a sore neck!! (Learned of Meningitis stuff after she got to feeling better). My wife, the MD, prescribed a Zithro pack during Plebe Parent Weekend, that helped some, but the kid continues to feel lousy. She still does her work and goes to practice, but it did get to the point that her coaches took the initiative to hold her out of practice recently, based on what they saw, not what DD said.

My wife has been driven nuts by this. DD is NOT a "Complainer" but she would call her Mom when she was feeling really sick, asking what to do. My wife would beg her to go to the BMU. A few times DD agreed to visit the BMU "tomorrow"---but the next day we'd hear "I feel much better". This has become a pattern---sick kid calls, we tell her SHE NEEDS TO GO TO the BMU, but she never goes. I pressed her hard on this pattern, and She told me that "the BMU has more important stuff to deal with"; she has also suggested that visiting the BMU "is just something you just don't do". As a parent what can we do? DD calls her own shoots now. Mommy and Daddy don't call the office to have them look in on her------but then a couple of days latter Mom gets another call from a sick DD asking what to do about body aches, fever Etc..

I am an attorney I COMPLAIN ABOUT EVERYTHING! My wife, on the other hand, has the whole internship-residency / "MD super hero training" / "Getting sick is for the weak" thing behind her. Wife and I both get the toughness, no whiners ethos of Plebe summer and life at the Academy. That said, it seems to me that there is a residual message left over from Plebe Summer that a visit to the BMU/Sick Call is for "Slackers".

I am dead certain that the USNA never said anything like "Don't visit the BMU". I am equally certain that the USNA doesn’t want sick kids running around creating more sick kids. Still, my sample of one Plebe suggests a perception among Plebes that the BMU is for whiners and slackers. It would be so simple to just forcefully message to all the new Plebes (a the end of Plebe Summer) that a Plebe has a responsibility to the Brigade to hit the BMU when they feel sick (lord knows my DD takes USNA responsibilities seriously these days). Maybe USNA did that; if they did, the message sure didn't take for my kid.

Just my "2-cents"
 
I agree Just Dad. Yes during Plebe Summer BMU develops a reputation for visiting. But it's 2 months into the academic year and that is way too long to be running a fever. Sure Plebes are exhausted (it seemed like every waking moment I was tired Plebe Year), stressed and run down. But at this point, that is too long. It might be a simple sinus infection or something else that her body just can't shake with all the exhaustion and constant go, go, go. It might be something more serious. Just like as adults we learn the limit at work to stay home and don't make others sick. We are actually doing our fellow employees a disservice by going to work and risking others.

Another part of this is it's also a learning part for Mids. They have to learn when to push people and themselves and when to push someone/themselves to get medical help. They have to learn to work with their staffs just like they will in their ships and units in the future. A ship or battalion on deployment in the field is a lot like USNA... large amounts of people from across the country living in close quarters. Heck a ship can pull into port all across the globe and introduce all kinds is new germs. We all hear about cruise ships spreading the flu, same idea. Even the small things at USNA are learning opportunities, a lot of Mids just don't recognize yet.
 
Thanks Hoops,

I get it. I don't want to make it too easy to ID her, (making her indirectly responsible for the stuff I say here), but she's been exposed to some stuff that others around her have come down with. GOOD TO HEAR how beat you were Plebe year----she is exhausted most of the time. I will drop this now----but I do think that the Second Para of your response should be printed up on red---no, blue paper in a gold faunt and distributed to Plebes in that week between Plebe Parent Weekend and start of classes.
 
Just Dad said:
Just a quick comment to this thread. My DD has been sick ("off and on") since Plebe Parent Weekend. Just after the start of classes she was running fevers of 101 and 102, she complained of dizziness------and a sore neck!! (Learned of Meningitis stuff after she got to feeling better). My wife, the MD, prescribed a Zithro pack during Plebe Parent Weekend, that helped some, but the kid continues to feel lousy. She still does her work and goes to practice, but it did get to the point that her coaches took the initiative to hold her out of practice recently, based on what they saw, not what DD said.

My wife has been driven nuts by this. DD is NOT a "Complainer" but she would call her Mom when she was feeling really sick, asking what to do. My wife would beg her to go to the BMU. A few times DD agreed to visit the BMU "tomorrow"---but the next day we'd hear "I feel much better". This has become a pattern---sick kid calls, we tell her SHE NEEDS TO GO TO the BMU, but she never goes. I pressed her hard on this pattern, and She told me that "the BMU has more important stuff to deal with"; she has also suggested that visiting the BMU "is just something you just don't do". As a parent what can we do? DD calls her own shoots now. Mommy and Daddy don't call the office to have them look in on her------but then a couple of days latter Mom gets another call from a sick DD asking what to do about body aches, fever Etc..

I am an attorney I COMPLAIN ABOUT EVERYTHING! My wife, on the other hand, has the whole internship-residency / "MD super hero training" / "Getting sick is for the weak" thing behind her. Wife and I both get the toughness, no whiners ethos of Plebe summer and life at the Academy. That said, it seems to me that there is a residual message left over from Plebe Summer that a visit to the BMU/Sick Call is for "Slackers".

I am dead certain that the USNA never said anything like "Don't visit the BMU". I am equally certain that the USNA doesn’t want sick kids running around creating more sick kids. Still, my sample of one Plebe suggests a perception among Plebes that the BMU is for whiners and slackers. It would be so simple to just forcefully message to all the new Plebes (a the end of Plebe Summer) that a Plebe has a responsibility to the Brigade to hit the BMU when they feel sick (lord knows my DD takes USNA responsibilities seriously these days). Maybe USNA did that; if they did, the message sure didn't take for my kid.

Just my "2-cents"
Click to expand...


That post was worth much more the 2 pennies.

My DS mirrored your DD 'sick profile', although he got better finally, last week.
 
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