LA County Health Agency Confirms Cases And Deaths From Invasive Meningococcal Disease; Long Beach Hasn't Had Cases This Year But City Health Officer Offers This Advice, Esp. For Men Having Sex With Men

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(April 2, 2014, 9:05 p.m.) -- The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) issued a release today (April 2, 2014) recommending "vaccinating against Meningococcal disease after a recently-identified increase in cases".

The LACDPH confirmed eight cases of Invasive Meningococcal Disease (IMD) -- with three deaths -- this year in the parts of L.A. County served by the County agency (all of L.A. County except for Long Beach and Pasadena, which have their own city Health departments.)

Long Beach City Health Officer Dr. Michael Kushner told LBREPORT.com that Long Beach hasn't had any reported IMD cases this year and said he'd describe the L.A. County cases elsewhere as a "cluster, not an outbreak". Kushner said that health officials don't yet know if any of the 2014 L.A. County cases are linked in any way.

The LACDPH release noted that four of the eight cases were reported among men who have sex with men (MSM) and reported that three of the four men were HIV positive. Three of the four MSM were described as "either residence in or socializing around the West Hollywood and North Hollywood areas".

Dr. Kushner said that the Long Beach Department of Health began putting together IMD recommendations for Long Beach health practitioners based on the LACDPH release...and those recommendations should be out by Friday. Kushner said that the recommendations would be similar to last year's response to the New York IMD outbreak among MSM. The Long Beach Department of Public Health website has a Frequently Asked Question page regarding that 2013 outbreak at this link.

Dr. Kushner suggested an MSM in Long Beach who was sexually active in the West Hollywood or North Hollywood areas recently and is concerned should contact their health provider.

A vaccine is available that works on three of the most common IMD types: A, C and Y. Kushner told LBREPORT.com that Serogroup C is the type involved in the 2014 L.A. County cases.

Last year a CSULB commuter student was diagnosed with IMD. Kushner told LBREPORT.com that the CSULB case wasn't linked to any of the other 2013 IMD cases including a cluster at UC Santa Barbara, Princeton University or the MSM New York outbreak.

The 2014 UCSB and Princeton College outbreaks were a Serogroup B outbreak for which there is no approved vaccine in the U.S. The California Department of Public Health obtained a special Investigational New Drug application to vaccinate 300 people associated with the USCB outbreak.

The California Department of Public Health reports that an average of 100 cases of IMD are reported yearly in the U.S. on college campuses. CSULB requires any student living in a CSULB dorm to be vaccinated against IMD.

The bacteria that cause IMD are spread by fluid from the throat and nose and quickly dies when outside the body. Common activities that spread the disease are kissing, sharing smoking items (tobacco/marijuana cigarettes, hookah, e-cigarettes) and sharing drinks.

Common symptoms include a stiff neck, headache and high fever. Other symptoms include a rash and confusion.