In the past two weeks, two University of Central Florida students contracted the bacteria that can cause meningitis, putting UF health officials on "heightened alert" for possible cases at UF.
One student received the meningitis vaccine, now mandatory for all incoming students at Florida's public universities, and one did not, UCF officials said.
The cases, which appear to be unrelated, are the second and third instances of meningitis-related illness at UCF this academic year, said Michael Deichen, UCF Health Center's medical director.
The State University System dealt with another bacterial meningitis case last semester at the University of South Florida. In that case, a student died.
In response to the USF case, the Board of Governors, the university system's highest governing body, passed a motion at its Jan. 24 meeting requiring all incoming students to receive the vaccine or sign a waiver accepting risks of non-immunization.
The current statewide policy only requires students who live on campus to be vaccinated.
Philip Barkley, UF's Student Health Care Center director, said UF already requires all incoming students, regardless of whether they live on campus, to receive the vaccine or sign a waiver acknowledging the risks. UF has not had any recent cases, Barkley said.
He said he couldn't be sure UF's broad vaccination policy prevented any meningitis cases from occurring, and he stressed the need for more education about the disease.
To avoid contracting meningitis, he advised students to get enough rest, exercise often and practice common-sense prevention such as frequent hand washing.
While he didn't know whether the incidence of meningitis cases this year was unusually high, Barkeley said meningitis tends to appear in cycles, with some years seeing more cases than others for no apparent reason.
Even though the vaccine only protects against the most common strains of meningitis, Deichen said UCF applauds any effort to extend that protection to all incoming students.
Although it's a rare disease, meningitis often goes undetected because the main symptoms - headache, fever and vomiting - resemble the flu, he said. One in 10 people who contract meningitis die from the disease, Deichen said.
