The \u00adUniversity of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy will address a serious health concern on college campuses while preparing future pharmacists to help contain a bacterial outbreak, thanks to a grant to expand its \u201cOperation Immunization\u201d program to tackle Meningitis B.<\/p>\n
The program recently received a $20,000 award from the NACDS Foundation Scholarship Program, which grants funding to educational institutions \u201cto advance patient care through pharmacy education.\u201d The URI College of Pharmacy received one of just six merit-based, $20,000 awards \u201cto fund patient-centered, community-based coursework or other curriculum innovations.\u201d<\/p>\n
The money will be used to establish an education and vaccination campaign to battle meningitis B, a relatively new strain of meningococcal disease that is not covered in typical meningitis vaccinations required by most college campuses. The illness commonly attacks adolescents 16-20 years old, putting college students living in close quarters at particular risk, according to URI pharmacy Clinical Associate Professor Virginia Lemay, principal on the study and leader of the College\u2019s \u201cOperation Immunization.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cChildren are vaccinated against meningitis when they are younger and generally get a booster before they enter college, but there is another strain not covered in the vaccination,\u201d Lemay said. \u201cMost of the outbreaks of meningitis we see on campuses are meningitis B because kids aren\u2019t required to be vaccinated against it. We\u2019re trying to be proactive and prevent an outbreak before it happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many people aren\u2019t aware of the new strain and their susceptibility to it. Lemay plans to begin the project with an education campaign this fall, including a student survey to determine students\u2019 level of knowledge of the disease. The education campaign will be followed by a vaccination clinic, with participating students receiving the first shot in October and another in November. The clinic is open to all students ages 19-23. College of Pharmacy students will lead the immunization.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, we\u2019re first trying to prevent people from getting sick,\u201d Lemay said. \u201cBut there\u2019s also a teaching component. We want our pharmacy students providing the shots because that\u2019s what we do. We\u2019re taking care of our own community, and hopefully, that will have a ripple affect across the state.\u201d<\/p>\n
First, Lemay is hoping to encourage a ripple affect across the university. She plans a second round of vaccinations in the Spring to inoculate more students, and hopes to encourage university leaders to act. The long-term goal is to generate data that will convince the university admissions office to require meningitis B vaccines for all incoming students.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur students here recognize the importance of this; it\u2019s a public health problem,\u201d Lemay said. \u201cHopefully, this puts it on the RADAR of the admissions office and we can get all students protected.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meningococcal disease is a severe, life-threatening illness with a fatality rate as high as 10\u201320 percent. Among those who survive, a high percentage developing life-altering complications, including amputations and seizures. The bacteria can travel through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes, putting people living closely together at particular risk. The meningitis vaccine all but wiped out the disease on college campuses until the new strain was discovered. Since 2011, all meningitis outbreaks on campuses have been caused by the B strain.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile MenB outbreaks are becoming an issue on college campuses, most schools do not require vaccination for admission,\u201d Lemay wrote in her grant proposal. \u201cCollege students are often unaware there is a separate vaccine for MenB and assume they are protected. These outbreaks could potentially be avoided if institutes of higher learning mandated MenB vaccination for incoming students.\u201d<\/p>\n