Boston seventh-grader dies from probable case of meningitis

By Chelsea Conaboy and Kay Lazar, Globe Staff

A 12-year-old Boston Latin Academy student died today after being hospitalized over the weekend with a probable case of bacterial meningitis, health officials said this evening.

Staffers from the Boston Public Health Commission plan to be at the school tomorrow to help counsel students and faculty.

“At this difficult time our hearts ache for the family and friends of this young student,” Mayor Thomas M. Menino said in a statement. “We mourn her loss and join with the Boston Latin Academy in this hour of grief.”

Superintendent Carol R. Johnson also commented. “Tonight, the entire Boston Public Schools community mourns the loss of one of our students,” she said in the statement. “We send our most sincere condolences to those who loved her. We have assembled a team of counselors who are ready to work with the Boston Latin Academy community in the difficult days ahead.”

The student was not identified because of patient confidentiality.

Health officials say a “relatively small number” of students and faculty at the school are at risk of infection from the seventh-grade student.

School officials worked with staff from the health commission to identify others who may have been in close contact with the student and, “out of an abundance of caution, advising that they go see their doctor,” said district spokesman Matthew Wilder.

Dr. Anita Barry, director of the Infectious Disease Bureau at the health commission, said agency officials estimate that fewer than 50 students and faculty had close enough contact with the 12-year-old girl to be at risk.

The germ that causes meningitis spreads through contact with saliva, such as by kissing or sharing a water bottle, or by a cough, Barry said. The infection causes an inflammation of the brain and spinal cord.

“We consider close contact to be someone who was within 3- to 6- feet for at least an hour duration,” Barry said. “It’s not someone who happened to walk past.”

There is a vaccine that protects against four strains of infection with meningitis, but there is one strain for which the shot is not particularly effective, Barry said.

It is not known whether the girl was vaccinated.

Cases of bacterial meningitis in Massachusetts are rare, with just eight confirmed cases last year, down from 43 in 2002. Barry said the number of cases has plummeted as more people have been vaccinated.

Symptoms of infection include headache, fever, stiff neck, difficulty looking at lights, confusion, excessive sleepiness, and a rash, Barry said.

Find more information on meningitis and its symptoms on the National Library of Medicine’s MedlinePlus.