College Vaccinations
We offer all college vaccinations including meningitis and Hepatitis B

What is Meningococcal Disease?

1 out of 5 People Who Develop Meningococcal Disease Will Die. Of Those Who Survive, 1 in 5 Will Suffer From Permanent Disabilities.

Meningococcal (MEN-IN-JO-KOK-AL) disease is a serious bacterial infection. It can cause meningitis – severe swelling of the brain
and spinal cord. It can also lead to sepsis – a life-threatening blood infection.

Meningococcal disease is very difficult to diagnose and treat, because it often begins with symptoms that can be mistaken for the flu or
another respiratory infection. But unlike more common infections, meningococcal disease can get worse very rapidly, and can kill
a healthy young adult in 48 hours or less. In fact, up to 1 out of 5 people who develop meningococcal disease will die. Of those who
survive, 1 in 5 will suffer from permanent disabilities such as amputation, severe scarring, brain damage, and hearing loss.

Does Your College Require A Meningitis Vaccination? Know Before You Go.

Stay Up-to-Date With Guidelines and Legislation Supporting Vaccination

Meningococcal vaccination is endorsed by well-respected health care advisory groups and is recommended or required by law for
college students in many states.

More than 30 states mandate distribution of information about meningococcal disease and the availability of a vaccine to college
students and their parents.

     • Many states require all incoming students living on campus to have meningococcal vaccination, or sign a waiver stating that
they chose not to be vaccinated.
     • Several states also require signed responses from students living on campus indicating that they have been vaccinated.

Every year, about 125 college students contract meningitis, and five to 15 of them die. The risk of dying is six times higher for students in dormitories, particularly freshmen, according to the American College Health Association. Up to 80percent of those college cases are
preventable with vaccine, the organization said.

College students are particularly vulnerable to the disease because "they don't eat right or sleep right, and they share close quarters," Shirley
Smith, director of health services at the Madison, N.J., campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University, said. "That's always been a concern."

This year, New Jersey joins 30 other states that require all freshmen and transfer students who plan to live in college campus housing
either to be immunized against meningitis - which New Jersey's law does - or to be educated about the disease before they start school.

States that require, or recommend a Meningitis Vaccination are as follows:

AR, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KY, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NE, NC, NJ, NY,
OH, OK, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, WA, WI

One morning six years ago, Ryan N. Pike, a sophomore at Indiana University at Bloomington, woke up with a headache and slight
nausea. After attending his morning class, he dragged himself back to bed and slept until 6 p.m. When he awoke, he realized that he
had something much worse than the flu.

Ryan was dehydrated, and when he tried to sit up in bed, he lost his vision. Purple pinpoint dots covered his arms and legs.

After his parents took him to a hospital that night, doctors diagnosed Ryan with meningococcal meningitis, a severe and rapidly advancing
form of bacterial meningitis, which infects the lining of the brain and spinal cord. They gave him antibiotics abut told his parents that he
had only a 30-percent chance of survival. A priest from the family’s parish church gave him last rites.

Gangrene, caused by restricted blood flow, crept into Ryan’s limbs and hardened his toes, forcing doctors to amputate nine of them,
along with most of his right foot.

After more than six weeks in bed, Ryan recovered. When he returned to Indiana to complete his degree, he began to study the disease
that had hit him so suddenly – a disease that he had not even known existed. He learned that he was lucky to have lived after waiting so
long to see a doctor. In cases of meningitis, a few hours can mean the difference between two legs and none, or between life and death.

He learned that the disease is spread through saliva and can be transmitted through coughing, sneezing, shared drinks, or any other form
of contact. Most people who become infected, however, don’t contract meningitis and aren’t even aware that they are carriers. He also
discovered that there is a vaccine that might have prevented him from catching the disease.

Menactra Vaccine Menomune Vaccine

After graduating, in December 2001, Ryan accepted a job as development director for the Meningitis Foundation of America, a nonprofit advocacy group focused on increasing awareness of all types of meningitis. The foundation, formed in 1997, and the National Meningitis Association, founded in 2000, are run by volunteers and paid staff members, many of whom are meningitis survivors or family members of meningitis victims.

Don’t let someone you love become a victim of meningitis.

Global Health Services 8087 Cincinnati-Dayton Rd., West Chester, OH  45069
(513) 777-8111
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