PCMS student has bacterial meningitis

A Pike County Middle School student was recently diagnosed with bacterial meningitis, prompting school officials to send a message to all parents. The school district has provided information to public health officials about students who may have come in contact with the infected student. Officials from the Georgia Department of Public Health District 4 are reviewing immunization records of those students and will contact parents by phone is the student needs to receive antibiotics or is at risk. ’Although we are concerned with the health of anyone in contact with the sick child, this type of meningitis is not as contagious as things like the common cold or the flu and is not spread by casual contact,’ said District 4 health director Dr. Olugbenga Obasanjo. ‘Also, because students are out of school for fall break, you child is unlikely to have come in contact with this student.’ Out of an abundance of caution, school officials are making sure the school is disinfected before students return to classes on Monday, Oct. 17.