Dalhousie medical students spread the word about risks of meningitis B

After two fatal cases of meningitis B at universities in Nova Scotia last year, some Dalhousie medical students in Halifax have united to tell incoming students about the disease.

Emma Courtney, Neha Khanna and Gizelle Francis worked for nearly a year with Norrie Matthews, a father who lost his son Kai to meningitis B in 2021, to continue the campaign he started called BforKai. It promotes education about meningitis B among students living in group settings like university residences and also the vaccine that can prevent it.

"In health care we talk about being advocates a lot. And you know, I think that goes far beyond the clinic," Courtney said.

The students plan to put up posters in student residences. They are scheduling training sessions with residence assistants, and hope to speak in first year classes about the disease.

Last year, two Dalhousie University students contracted meningitis B. One student survived. The other died.  A month before, a Saint Mary's University student died from the infection. That motivated the medical students to act, so they reached out to Matthews.

Funding for vaccine

Matthews had already been working on the same cause. Kai, a 19-year-old Acadia University kinesiology student, died of meningitis B after twice being discharged from a Halifax hospital.

Before his son's death, Matthews says he knew nothing about the bacteria that causes potentially fatal meningitis or ways to prevent the fast-moving illness that's spread through close contact.

"The only way we can wrap our head around what happened to Kai is to try to make something good come out of it," he said.

Since then, the organization helped launch a vaccination program at Acadia and has campaigned for funding for the meningitis B vaccine.

In May, the Nova Scotia government announced that the vaccine is now free for students from Nova Scotia living in a dorm for the first time who are under the age of 25. Matthews says that's important because without funding, the vaccine costs $300 for two doses. In April, P.E.I. also announced funding for the vaccine. Matthews wants to see that spread to every province.

Dr. Shelly McNeil said most people don't know that the meningitis B vaccine isn't included in typical childhood vaccines. (Mark Crosby)

Dr. Shelly McNeil is the chief of the division of infectious diseases at Nova Scotia Health and a professor in Dalhousie's school of medicine. She says not everyone knows that meningitis B isn't included in childhood shots. She says often it isn't talked about until tragedy happens. But it is preventable — two doses of the vaccine can protect people.

"Why be that one person if you don't need to be?" she said.

Meningitis B risk

McNeil said meningitis B is difficult to diagnose and people with it can get sick very quickly. Its hallmark signs are a headache, fever and a bright red rash on the lower legs. It's spread through saliva and can be treated with antibiotics.

The disease is rare — she said around 150 people get meningitis B every year in Canada. But students in residence are about three times more likely than others their age to get the disease. Once they get it, the consequences can be deadly. One in ten people who contract the disease don't survive. And one in three survivors of the disease have long-term implications like hearing loss, vision loss or amputations.

Other universities

BforKai is now an official society at Dalhousie. In addition, Dalhousie University is including information about meningitis B in first year programming, social media posts and residence rooms.

The university is planning to host vaccine clinics in the fall.

And it's not the only university planning programming around meningitis B awareness.

Mount Saint Vincent University, Saint Francis Xavier University and NSCAD University are sharing information about the disease with students. Acadia, MSVU and St. FX are also working on providing vaccine clinics on campus.

"We've got a hope that what we do here at Dalhousie with the on-campus activities will be utilized by other provinces, other universities of Canada, so other peers can make knowledge transfer to other peers," Matthews said.

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