A senior Eastern student was hospitalized last week for viral meningitis, but the campus does not need to be concerned because it’s not the type of meningitis that people need to worry about, said Joseph Wall, medical director of Health Services.

“(Viral meningitis) is not the kind we do all the advertising for and get worried about,” Wall said.

The Eastern student is better and is getting back to the normal, everyday life.

“She’s out of the hospital, back in her apartment and going back to classes because she’s well,” said Lynette Drake, director of Health Services.

There are two kinds of meningitis – bacterial and viral – and they are completely different, Wall said.

The biggest difference between bacterial and viral meningitis is that people cannot die from viral meningitis.

Not a lot else is known about viral meningitis, and there is not much anyone can do to prevent it, Wall said. He said they don’t know why people get it, and it’s not particularly contagious.

Some people think it is transmitted through insect bites, like mosquito bites. Wall said at this time of the year, mosquito bites are not common, but since spring break was a couple weeks ago, it’s possible that if people went somewhere warm, they could have gotten mosquito bites. The viral meningitis tends to have an incubation period of a week or two, he said.

Symptoms of viral meningitis include a headache, a stiff neck, sometimes a fever, nausea, a cough and a sore throat. “It’s like the common cold but more severe,” Wall said.

There is nothing people who get viral meningitis can do. There’s no medicine, and there is no cure. The student was in the hospital for a couple of days, but that was more for precaution, Wall said.

“The biggest concern is we want to make sure it’s not bacterial kind. That’s the reason for the hospital,” he said.

Bacterial meningitis is something to be concerned about because it can end in death, Wall said. Many of the symptoms for bacterial meningitis are the same as viral meningitis early on in the illness, but in a very short time, the symptoms get a lot worse. A rash, a decrease in blood pressure and a high fever are symptoms, he said. Bacterial meningitis also is contagious, he said.

Bacterial meningitis can be transmitted person-to-person, so Wall said the main thing for prevention is not to share drinks or cigarettes. It also can be transmitted through kissing, he said. Wall said studies have shown that people who smoke and freshmen who live in the residence halls are at higher risk for the disease.

Health Services encourages students to get the meningitis vaccine. He said it lasts for three to five years and is available at Health Services; however, many people don’t want to get it because of the cost – $70.

“You pay more than that for a pair of tennis shoes, and this can save your life,” Wall said.

In the case of anyone getting sick with bacterial meningitis, Health Services would take steps to get the word out.

“If we have a case on campus, we immediately let (people on campus) know,” Wall said.

He said Health Services would send out press releases and notify classes, roommates and people who live on the floor of the person with the disease if that person lived in the residence halls.

For people who were in close contact with the victim, they are given a single dose of the drug Cipro, and that usually helps, so they do not also get the illness, Wall said.