A potentially deadly strain of meningitis has left one Los Angeles man brain dead but remained on life support Friday and officials have sent out warnings to sexually active gay men regarding the deadly strain of illness that is making its way through the city.
Brett Shaad, 33, was declared brain dead but remained on life support Friday afternoon, said Elizabeth Ashford, a spokeswoman for Shaad's family, according to the Los Angeles Times. She declined to release further details.
According to the report, over Easter weekend Shaad had attended the White Party in Palm Springs, an annual gathering that draws 8,000 to 10,000 gay men from across the country. After returning, Shaad was hospitalized, his health rapidly declined and he was found to have meningitis.
The meningitis case in Los Angeles follows an outbreak of deadly meningitis in New York City among gay men. At least 22 men have contracted meningitis in New York since 2010, 13 of them this year, and 7 have died.
"The lesson we learned 30 years ago in the early days of H.I.V. and AIDS is that people were not alerted to what was going on and a lot of infections occurred that didn't need to occur," said John Duran, a West Hollywood city councilman and one of the few openly H.I.V.-positive elected officials in the country. "So even with an isolated case here, we need to sound the alarms, especially given the cases in New York."
Bacterial meningitis is usually severe, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and can cause brain damage, hearing loss, and death. The disease is spread by prolonged close contact - like kissing or sex - as well as sharing eating utensils, a drinking glass, or a cigarette with another person infected with meningitis.
The CDC notes that meningitis cannot be spread by simply breathing the same air as another person with the disease. However, people with HIV do have a greater risk of acquiring invasive meningococcal disease, which can become fatal if not properly treated.
Meningitis vaccinations are available in most travel clinic and many pharmacies.
