Meningococcal disease outbreak over at Oregon State

CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) – An outbreak of meningococcal disease at Oregon State University is officially over.

The Corvallis Gazette-Times reports the university recorded five cases of the same strain of the potentially deadly disease over a 12-month span beginning in November 2016.

(A sixth case was initially reported as strain B, the same as the other cases, but further testing showed it to be a different genotype and therefore unrelated.)

The disease primarily afflicts young people, often in congregate living facilities such as dorms and fraternity houses.

As of Friday, a full year had passed since the last related case was diagnosed, meeting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for determining the outbreak had ended and allowing local public health officials to declare victory.

All of the Oregon State students infected with the disease have made full recoveries.

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Information from: Gazette-Times, http://www.gtconnect.com