THE LOOP — The city's new health commissioner is warning gay men of a "small outbreak" of a meningitis-related infection and is advising them to get vaccinated.
Dr. Julie Morita, recently named commissioner of the Department of Public Health, said Wednesday three cases of Invasive Meningococcal Disease had been diagnosed among sexually active gay men over the last three weeks. She advised gay men who are HIV positive or who have "anonymous sex partners" to seek a readily available vaccine for the disease.
"Having sex isn't the risk factor for getting the disease," Morita said. Rather, it's spread through "prolonged, close contact with saliva," or through "respiratory and throat secretions," which lends itself to those who share sex, as well as drinks, food or cigarettes.
Morita took pains to insist that this outbreak is not a public-health scare on the order of the AIDS epidemic, adding that the infection is not spread easily. She said the vaccine is available from doctors or pharmacies, and the department put out a list of city-affiliated clinics, health centers and pharmacies where it can be obtained.
The disease can be far more dire than the common cold and can lead to meningitis or death. It can take two to 10 days after initial infection for symptoms to appear, and symptoms include fever, headache and a stiff neck, perhaps leading to nausea, vomiting, confusion and heightened sensitivity to light. The department advised those with symptoms to call a doctor or 311.
"The disease is serious," Morita said. "If we can prevent disease through vaccination, we should do it."
Morita counseled calm and a simple, preventive inoculation in most cases, saying the department was "broadening" the definition of those who should be inoculated for the disease to include sexually active gay men.
"When we can determine a group that's at higher risk for disease," she said, "we will move forward."
"The outbreak is isolated to a specific subpopulation," the department said in a release, identifying gay men. People with HIV are asked to take particular caution because 20 percent of HIV sufferers who develop the disease die from it.
Morita recently replaced Dr. Bechara Choucair as the city's top health officer.
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