News-Letter

Officials have announced that Duvalsaint likely died of meningitis. (Courtesy of Rajiv Shenoy) [Click to enlarge]

After the death of sophomore Gilbert Duvalsaint on Oct. 26, Union Memorial Hospital announced that preliminary findings showed he had contracted bacterial meningitis.

According to an e-mail sent out on Oct. 27 from Susan Boswell, dean of student life, the particular strain of bacteria that caused Duvalsant's infection has not yet been determined.

After calling the school's emergency number with complaints of what he thought to be an allergic reaction, namely a sore throat and swollen tongue, Duvalsaint was picked up by ambulance from the Bradford Apartments and rushed to the emergency room, Boswell said.

Details regarding Duvalsaint's case have not been released by the hospital and his autopsy report was not yet available from the medical examiner's office.

Debra Schindler, media spokesperson for Union Memorial, explained why his hospital records remained unavailable. She said, "Federal HIPAA [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act] regulations prevent us from discussing a patient's case if the patient is deceased without family permission."

Schindler added, "We have reached out to the parents. ... I personally have not been in contact with them without leaving a message."

"I can say that when their son was admitted into the emergency room doctors were in touch with his family and certainly after he passed."

While doctors were unable to discuss Duvalsaint's case's specifically, Dr. Wayne Campbell, chief of infectious disease at Union Memorial, explained how bacterial meningitis affects its victims.

He said, "A person acquires it from another person, from close face-to-face contact."

"Meningitis typically consists of fever, headache and neck stiffness. Not everybody has all of those [symptoms]," Campbell said.

He explained that bacterial meningitis is much less common than viral meningitis, having seen only "a couple dozen" cases of the illness during his 25 years as a physician. "Meningitis is uncommon, fortunately," he said.

According to Boswell, Duvalsaint had been immunized against the viral form of meningitis in accordance with Maryland state law, which requires students living in University housing to either be vaccinated or sign a waiver exempting them.

There is no immunization for the bacterial form of the disease, but Campbell said that if it is caught early enough, patients can be treated with antibiotics.

Campbell said that once a person shows symptoms of the disease, the time he or she has before requiring immediate attention is "not usually very long, a day or two or three."

However, according to the University-wide e-mail sent out by Boswell, "it appears that his illness was sufficiently advanced and the strain was sufficiently virulent that the treatment did not save him."

Bacterial meningitis is a disease that attacks the nervous system by entering the bloodstream and moving into the brain.

Campbell explained, "For a bacterium to cause meningitis, it must cross many barriers that nature gave us to prevent meningitis."

In Boswell's e-mail she explained that those who have been in "close, household contact with Gilbert or frequently ate or slept in the same dwelling as him" and those who had mouth-to-mouth contact or any interaction with his oral secretions should be concerned about contracting the bacteria.

The Student Health and Wellness Center has been open for students at risk to receive antibiotic treatment.

However, she emphasized that those who were in a class or only had "casual contact" with him need not worry.

Boswell sent out a University-wide e-mail detailing funeral arrangements on Nov. 1. The viewing will be on Friday, Nov. 4, and the funeral will be held on Saturday morning in Williston Park, N.Y.

The University will be providing bus service to and from New York for the services. However, students must provide their own accommodations for Friday night.

The Office of Student Life is planning an on-campus memorial service for the following week.

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