Germany deaths put officials on meningitis alert
By Kelly Kennedy
Times staff writer
American military communities in Germany are on high alert after a soldier and two civilians died from meningococcal diseases within a week of one another.
Because each person died from a different variant of meningococcal bacteria, each case can lead to an outbreak, said Col. Bruno Petruccelli, chief of the team that investigated the deaths.
“People should still be on alert and be educated, but not be scared,” Petrucelli said. “Get seen if you don’t feel well and things aren’t getting better.”
Army officials worried that the original three deaths might have been an outbreak, so they sent Petrucelli to Germany to investigate.
Pvt. Dave Robbins, 20, a light vehicle mechanic with the 1st Infantry Division, died Jan. 28 of septicemia at Wurzburg Hospital. Air Force civilian Linsey Ferris, 26, died Jan. 19 of septicemia after checking herself into the emergency room earlier that day. She worked at the Office of Special Investigations at Spangdahlem Air Base. Kimberly Wesson, the wife of a 1st Infantry Division soldier in Schweinfurt, died Feb. 3 of meningitis. She worked at the Schweinfurt Commissary.
“With three fatal cases in the same sector in a few days and all of them fatal — anyone would guess that’s got to be an outbreak,” Petrucelli said. “But the whole European medical command was on high alert, and all the clinics were on high alert, and if there had been one, we would have known about it.”
No one else has been diagnosed with a meningococcal disease since the three died, Petrucelli said.
Meningococcal deaths have decreased significantly since vaccines were developed for some variants, and U.S. soldiers are vaccinated against Group A meningococcal bacteria. Unfortunately, Group B — the kind most common in Europe — doesn’t have a vaccine.
The diseases are complicated, Petrucelli said, because one in 10 people naturally carry the bacteria in their throats without having symptoms.
But some people’s immune systems can’t fight the bacteria. That can lead to meningitis, or the inflammation of the membranes that cover and protect the brain and spinal cord. Or, it causes septicemia, where there is so much bacteria in the body that it poisons the blood and causes the walls of blood cells to break down. That leads to internal bleeding and organ failure.
Meningococcal disease victims often don’t know how ill they are until it is too late because the symptoms are flulike: chills, fever, headaches and possibly a rash or stiff neck.
It’s of particular concern for military communities because it often attacks the young — especially those living closely together.
“It could be because young people are living in a new place for the first time and meeting people with different immunities, and then they’re housing together,” Petrucelli said.
The Army has not had an outbreak since the spring 2002, when Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., officials reported five cases in an Advanced Individual Training group. Five people contracted the bacteria, and one of them died.
Just like the flu, meningitis hits during cold weather when people stay inside and are in close contact with one another, and then it tends to fizzle out.
“I say people should still be concerned,” Petrucelli said. “Any one of the cases could be the first of an outbreak.”