Are you confused? Do you have a headache? Can you touch your chin to your chest, and if so, does it hurt? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions and have a sudden fever of 101.5 degrees or higher, you may have meningitis. What's more, if you're an AU student, you may have a higher chance of contracting the rare disease due to an AU student's hospitalization late last week.
This student was admitted to an unnamed hospital over the weekend after symptoms of the disease were spotted and then confirmed. Shortly thereafter, the hospital contacted the D.C. Department of Health, which notified AU officials. Then, Student Health Center Director Bethany Chiaramonte notified the student's roommates. Chiaramonte told our reporter that the AU student is doing better. And according to The Eagle, our campus is doing much better as well.
Thanks to Julie Weber, executive director of Housing and Dining Programs, students were promptly notified about the contraction and were given a description of meningitis, as well as a list of who to contact.
Also, The Eagle must rescind its criticism of the Health Center as AU's "unwanted freak-baby" after Chiaramonte's quick and professional performance.
The Eagle would also like to take this chance to remind readers of the very simple ways to protect yourself from meningitis and other diseases in this season of sickness. The most basic way to prevent disease is to follow the employee sign in every restaurant: Wash your hands.
The simplest way to avoid getting sick is to wash those wandering hands, which cover the darkest reaches of the toilet, filthy money and common keyboards in the computer labs. Avoid loose men and women. Make laundry day a semi-annual event and don't reuse tissues. Clean your room regularly so it has a higher standard of living than a Chinese prison.
All in all, if you want to be healthy, make sure to keep yourself and your surroundings clean.
