Message in a bottle

Children involved in team sports, and young adults and university students who tend to socialize a lot in crowded settings are all vulnerable to meningococcal meningitis, according to Montreal Canadiens assistant coach Kirk Muller and Dr. John Yaremko, a paediatrician at Montreal Children’s’ Hospital, who raised awareness of this danger earlier today at the Dollard des Ormeaux Civic Centre.

“I know that not many people have it in Quebec right now,” Muller said in between signing autographs for rows upon rows of young Habs fans lining up to meet the former Stanley Cup-winning captain of the team. “But let’s take a step to prevent it from happening.”

According to Dr. Yaremko, meningococcal meningitis can be transferred quickly via saliva, and anyone up to 25 years old should be particularly careful. “Kissing can do it,” he said, but more importantly for team sports players, so can drinking from the same plastic bottle as a teammate who may unknowingly be carrying the bacteria which causes the disease.

“As healthy individuals, you can carry the bacteria,” warned Yaremko, adding someone may intermittently carry it, transfer it to another, and never quite catch the disease himself.

“There is no way of predicting what it will do (to each person),” he said.

However, meningococcal meningitis can be fatal, even killing someone within 24 to 48 hours. “Ten per cent of people who get this will die,” said Yaremko.

Furthermore, 64 per cent of those who catch it have to go to an ICU, and 20 per cent “will have a neurological problem of some sort,” he said.

Yaremko said it is worth getting vaccinated against meningococcal meningitis for anyone under 25 years of age, estimating the cost at about $150. “In Quebec, it’s available, but not as a universal program,” he said, which means local CLSCs would not carry it, save perhaps in some travel clinics.

However, a prescription at a local pharmacy or meeting a general practitioner would do the trick, he said.

With four very athletic daughters, Muller said he grew very concerned about this type of meningitis strain when he first heard about it. “We’re definitely considering (vaccination),” he told The Chronicle.

The event coincided with the 5th annual Dollard des Ormeaux APBM Hockey Tournament, with several parents lining up to watch their kids grab autographs of Muller. Free plastic bottles were given out, with pamphlets containing information about the disease inside.

“I haven’t heard a whole lot about meningitis in a while,” said Cristina Frangiose, one of whose sons was participating in the tournament, adding the fact there was a strain this dangerous was news to her.

“It’ll be impossible to tell kids not to share water bottles at a hockey tournament,” said another parent, François Loiselle, although he admit that teaching prevention was important.

Annually, around 200 Canadians catch a meningococcal disease, such as meningococcal meningitis, mostly children and teenagers.

Muller and Yaremko were brought over by Sanofi-Pasteur, a pharmaceutical company that manufactures vaccines against meningitis and other diseases.