Schools

USF vows overhaul of meningitis vaccine policies

Paperwork showing students have been vaccinated or have opted out will be required.

By JUSTIN GEORGE, SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER, CASEY CORA and REBECCA CATALANELLO, Times Staff Writers
Published September 26, 2007

Mourners gather around the grave of Rachel Futterman at Riverside Memorial Gardens in Jacksonville. Futterman, a 19-year-old sophomore at the USF, died Monday after a short battle with bacterial meningitis. Video: Memorial service | USF officials speak View photos View, sign guest book Timeline Q&A Tuesday's funeral service
	[Photo by Jolie Myers]

ADVERTISEMENT [Special to the Times] This picture of Rachel Futterman was displayed at a memorial on the USF campus in Tampa. [CHRIS ZUPPA | Times] Nick Springer, right, an Eckerd College student contracted bacterial meningitis in 1999, works to raise awareness of the disease, particularly among Eckerd freshmen, and backs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation that everyone ages 11 to 18 be immunized.

TAMPA -- In the wake of a University of South Florida sophomore's death, administrators announced Tuesday they will change their policies regarding meningitis vaccinations.

Starting as early as the spring semester, USF students won't be able to move into residence halls or Greek housing without completing paperwork showing they have been vaccinated against bacterial meningitis -- or at least have read about its dangers, then opted out of immunization.

USF spokesman Ken Gullette conceded that hadn't been the case before 19-year-old Rachel Futterman died Monday. Housing officials had been letting students move into dorms without completing paperwork for the vaccine -- even though state law requires it.

"That will no longer be tolerated," Gullette said.

Meanwhile, the board that oversees the state's 11 public universities will re-evaluate and possibly revise its health procedures to better protect against the disease. University health directors are in Tallahassee today and Thursday for a scheduled meeting of the Board of Governors, where they will discuss whether more needs to be done "to protect students and staff," said board spokesman Bill Edmonds.

USF president Judy Genshaft didn't wait for a recommendation. Tuesday, she told her staff to have the new policy in place no later than the fall of 2008.

Genshaft, a mother of two school-age boys, was visibly shaken at Monday night's campus memorial service for Futterman, a Delta Gamma sorority member who was studying marketing.

"This hit all of us very hard," Gullette said.

In announcing their new enforcement policy, USF officials acknowledged they have been lax in making sure the 4,400 students living on campus had been educated about meningitis, as state law requires.

USF mailed vaccination forms to the students, who were expected to mail them back.

"We don't check to see if they've sent it back," housing director Tom Kane said. "We're under the assumption that most students fill it out and send it back."

USF keeps the forms, spokeswoman Lara Wade said, but it doesn't have a system "currently in place to see who received what."

Students who didn't complete their paperwork, moved in "and then they were hounded throughout the year to complete the form," Gullette said.

"There was followup, but did we get every student? Probably not," Gullette said. "This death made us ask ourselves, what other safeguards do we need?"

Because of medical privacy laws, Gullette could not say whether Futterman had been vaccinated. But he confirmed that she filled out her paperwork.

"She was in compliance," he said. "Even though some students may have slipped through the cracks, Rachel did not."

As Futterman's funeral took place in Jacksonville, the state laboratory in the same city studied samples of her disease to determine its strain, said Warren McDougle, Hillsborough County Health Department epidemiology program manager.

Health officials continue to monitor everyone Futterman came in contact with, and the state Health Department is aware of no other reported cases of the illness.

Five years ago, state legislators passed a law requiring colleges to tell new students about the risks associated with meningococcal meningitis and the availability of vaccines. Students who live on campus must provide documentation of vaccinations unless they are 18 or older, in which case they can sign a waiver opting out of immunization.

Raising awareness of the disease was the law's intent, said Dr. Don Sullivan, a former state senator from St. Petersburg who co-sponsored the bill. But it was also meant to make universities plan better and keep vaccinations in stock, he said.

Eckerd College requires all students to be vaccinated or provide immunization records proving they've been protected.

The University of Florida and Florida State University require all students to be vaccinated or fill out waivers. Students can't register for classes until they comply.

"They have to do it one way or the other," said Dr. Celeste Paquette, FSU student health center medical director. "The bug doesn't stop at a dorm. It goes everywhere."

Administrators on Tuesday weren't firm on whether USF students will have to show medical proof that they got the vaccine, "but I can tell you, we will take every effort to ensure that what they tell us is correct," Gullette said.

Some wish action had come sooner.

"What does it have to take for people to wake up and pay attention?" asked Nick Springer, 22, an Eckerd College student who contracted bacterial meningitis in 1999.

"No one else should really go through what I went through," he said.

Springer became ill at age 14 while away at summer camp. What started as a mild illness on a Thursday became severe vomiting and his legs collapsing Friday. After two months in a drug-induced coma, doctors amputated both of his hands and his legs below the knees.

"I was actually one of the lucky ones," Springer said Tuesday, referring to the fact that he is still alive. He now works to raise awareness of the disease, particularly among Eckerd freshmen, and backs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation that everyone ages 11 to 18 be immunized.

Springer doesn't blame the USF administration because he said many colleges aren't prepared.

"A lot of people are just brushing it off," he said. "A parent likes to send a kid to college with every possible thing they need, and they're missing one of the biggest things to protect their child -- their health."

Times staff writers Steve Bousquet and Colleen Jenkins contributed to this report.

[Last modified September 26, 2007, 00:22:53]