Meningitis outbreak in S Florida

[jdubya]

This has been in the news lately with the CDC advising for gay men to take a vaccine. Anyone in Florida want to chime in or anyone who has had a meningitis vaccine.

[fskn]

Cross-linking to a local advisory from the San Francisco Department of Health, which covers not only men who have sex with men (MSM) who live in Florida, but also those traveling to Florida or attending national gay events like San Francisco Pride:

 

[ErosWired]

Bumping this because as of Friday there have now been 26 cases and 7 deaths from the Florida meningococcal outbreak, with 24 of the cases among men who have sex with men. The CDC is describing it as “one of the worst outbreaks of meningococcal disease among gay and bisexual men in U.S. history.”

Meningitis is absolutely nothing to take a chance with. The outbreak in question is apparently a bacterial meningitis, but it was an opportunistic fungal meningitis infection that nearly killed me when AIDS knocked out my immune system in 2014. Be especially careful if you are immunocompromised. Be alert if you feel symptoms of stiff neck, headache, or severe flu-like symptoms. The headache I had was so bad it was debilitating. If you have such symptoms, seek a medical evaluation immediately - swift treatment is essential.

And prevention is better; getting a vaccination would be a good idea.

[rawTOP]

As @ErosWired stated - THIS IS SERIOUS - GUYS ARE DYING!! 

You can avoid all the risk by getting a simple vaccine. I got mine a number of years ago when NYC had an outbreak. So, GET VACCINATED SOON!

Here's an article on it from a highly reputable source (website aimed at doctors, not patients)…

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/976126

[AlwaysOpen]

Ft Lauderdale here. The Pride Center in Wilton Manors ( a community/city in the Ft Lauderdale region, and the gay center) in conjunction with the county health department, offered a free vaccination clinic last week offering Covid, Hep A, and meningitis vaccinations . It had 40 men in line within 15 minutes of the start, and took the health department folk by surprise- they thought they might see 50 men in 4 hours. To their credit, they called in a couple extra nurses, and made extra handouts, and handled the crowd. I went for the meningitis shot, and while it took a bit of time to get processed  to the back where the shots were being administered, once there the county nurse was amazing. She saw I was there for the meningitis shot only, and alerted me the Hep A was also available, and told me it was as big if not bigger/older issue in South Florida. When I told her I wasn't aware if I had ever gotten the Hep A shot, she logged into the data base and pulled up my health department history. All vaccinations, done at drug stores,doctors offices, or health fairs, are supposed to be reported to the data base, and she quickly identified I had not had the Hep A shot, so I got it as well. Neither shot hurt ( great nurse helps) and I had no soreness or side effects the next day. I absolutely hope every sexually active man takes the time to get this shot. OH- as an aside- I posted in a different thread about meningitis on this site about the front desk woman at my doctors office telling me men over 65 were not in need of the shot. I mentioned this to the nurse who was giving me the shot, who burst out laughing and in her Jamaican lilt  said- You're a man who has sex, why would she think you couldn't get exposed. And then she called out to the coordinator from the health department and told her what I had said. They agreed a visit and some educating was in order for his office and staff. BTW- if you have HAD a Hep A shot but not within 5 years, a refresher shot is 

The Pride Center in Wilton Manors also hosted a panel discussion the next night  to educate and answer all the questions about another issue erupting here- monkey pox. If anyone wants to see that, it is on the Pride Center's facebook page.

CDC meninggococcal info : [think before following links] https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/vis/vis-statements/mening.html

CDC Hep A info sheet  info: [think before following links] https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/patient-ed/adults/downloads/fs-hepa-hcp.pdf

[AlwaysOpen]

On 6/26/2022 at 11:51 AM, rawTOP said:

As @ErosWired stated - THIS IS SERIOUS - GUYS ARE DYING!! 

You can avoid all the risk by getting a simple vaccine. I got mine a number of years ago when NYC had an outbreak. So, GET VACCINATED SOON!

 

If you got your shot a number of years ago, you might want to look into getting a booster shot. Check with your doc or health department, but here in Broward Co FL the health dept is using 5 years  as a refresh timeline

[AlwaysOpen]

Just a follow up to my post above-- the demand has been so strong for the vax's  that the Pride Center (Wilton Manors/Ft Lauderdale FL) and Health Dept are doing another shot clinic this month offering Hep A, Meningitis, and covid shots, and this time it is being done with a preset appointment time- so any of my gay brothers here in South Florida, esp in the Oakland Park, Wilton Manors, Ft Lauderdale greater area, no excuses!! Make the appointment and do something proactive for your health. Fucks sake-- you can go to the bar and stay bent over a pool table for an hour hoping to take a dick or 2, you ought to be able to spare a few minutes to try and stem Hep A and meningitis from racing through the community. 

[Close2MyBro]

I'm not in Florida, but I've had the vaccine and didn't suffer any side effects from it whatsoever. When I shared with my doctor that I was gay many years ago, he sent me to get a few vaccinations that they usually don't give to everyone as a safety precaution, including the Hep A and B vaccines and the pneumococcal vaccination as well. As part of my regular bloodwork, they actually test to see if the antibody levels for most of my vaccines are high enough to avoid infection, and they have remained high. Having the right doctor makes a big difference. If your doctor doesn't offer, or doesn't want to give you the vaccine, I'd find another doctor.

[AlwaysOpen]

Well, in the ongoing thread of vaccinations, the Pride Center here in Wilton Manors / Ft Lauderdale was hosting another shot clinic for the upcoming week ( July 11th 2022)  for Hep A, meningitis, and covid. Just got an updated email from the Center, and in light of the current outbreak of monkeypox, the Broward Health Dept is also going to be offering a shot for that. Florida is now #4 in the country for cases, and of the 88 in the state, Broward , as of today, has 53 cases, Miami has 15 cases.