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Texas physicians are urging Gov. Rick Perry to protect Texas college students on and off campus against a potential killer. New legislation awaiting the governor’s signature may protect college students from a deadly disease that strikes teenagers and young adults living in close quarters like dormitories. This bill toughens existing law after the death of a Texas college student earlier this year.  

Senate Bill 1107 by Sen. Wendy Davis (R-Fort Worth) and Rep. Charlie Howard (R-Sugar Land) requires students new to a college campus to be vaccinated against meningococcal disease — more commonly called bacterial meningitis — before entering college, regardless of whether they intend to live on or off campus. The physicians of the Texas Medical Association (TMA) support the bill. 

The bill has been named the Jamie Schanbaum and Nicolis Williams Act, after a University of Texas at Austin (UT) student who survived meningococcal meningitis, and a Texas A&M student who died suddenly of the disease in February. Because young Mr. Williams lived off campus, current Texas law did not require him to be vaccinated.  

“Honoring the legacy of our son by including his name in the law will forever remind us how precious and fragile life is. Every life spared by this law will be credited to Jamie and Nicolis,” said Greg Williams, Nicolis’ father. “Parents can rest assured their child can obtain an education without the threat of a preventable disease ending or disfiguring his or her life.” 

Meningococcal disease is a bacterial infection that spreads through coughing and sneezing, sharing drinks or utensils, and kissing or other person-to-person contact. 

After its initial flu-like symptoms, meningococcal disease acts so quickly that about 10 percent of sufferers die from it, often within hours of the onset of symptoms ― even if they have begun to receive treatment. The percent is higher in adolescents and young adults. As many as 15 college students die each year from it. Some 1,500 cases of meningococcal disease are diagnosed annually in the United States. Texas had 341 confirmed cases of bacterial meningitis in 2007 (patients of all ages). 

The disease also can be devastating to its survivors. “Otherwise-healthy students can end up in a hospital intensive care unit with severe bloodstream infection and meningitis in a matter of hours,” says Donald Murphey, MD, a Fort Worth infectious disease specialist and advocate for TMA’s  Be Wise — Immunize^SM vaccine program. “I’ve seen patients lose fingers, toes, arms, and legs with this infection in the bloodstream.” Many who recover from meningococcal disease also endure blindness, deafness, or brain or kidney damage. 

Jamie Schanbaum suffered similar effects. She contracted the disease in 2008 while attending UT. She survived and returned to her studies but lost her legs and most of her fingers because of it. Last session the legislature passed the first Jamie Schanbaum Act, requiring new or transfer students planning to live on campus to get a meningococcal vaccine. But this new bill requires proof of vaccination for any student (age 30 or younger) who has never enrolled or has been out of school for a spring or fall semester, or longer. 

“Few people know the devastating effects of meningitis like our family does, and thanks to the tremendous efforts of Texas’ legislators on behalf of Texas’ college students, fewer families will experience the ravaging effects of this preventable disease,” said Patsy Schanbaum, Jamie’s mother. 

In supportive legislative testimony, Carol Baker, MD, said, “There are few things that are as sorrowful as watching a person die from a disease that could have been prevented. We don’t have a vaccine for every type of meningitis, but fortunately, we do have a vaccine for most serotypes of meningococcal meningitis.” Dr. Baker, chair of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, spoke on behalf of TMA and other physician groups. 

College students are more at risk of the disease because of the close living quarters they share in college dormitories. The only other patient group at highest risk of contracting meningococcal disease is preschool children, doctors note. 

But vaccines slow the disease’s spread. Doctors believe that as many as four out of five of the adolescents and young adults who contract the infection could have avoided it, had they been vaccinated. The meningococcal vaccine protects against four of the five common strains of the disease. 

TMA actively works to improve immunization rates in Texas through its Be Wise — Immunize program. Be Wise works with local communities to give free and low-cost shots to Texas children and adolescents, and educate people about the importance of vaccination. TMA is the largest state medical society in the nation, representing more than 45,000 physician and medical student members. It is located in Austin and has 120 component county medical societies around the state. TMA’s key objective since 1853 is to improve the health of all Texans. TMA’s Be Wise — Immunize program is funded by the TMA Foundation, TMA’s philanthropic arm.

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Be Wise — Immunize is a service mark of the Texas Medical Association.