LA official warns of meningitis after White Party

A California city councilman warned those who attended the White Party in Palm Springs over Easter weekend should consider getting a meningitis vaccine. John Duran, a West Hollywood city councilman, said in a telephone interview Friday evening Brett Shaad, a West Hollywood lawyer, died at about 4:45 p.m. after being taken off life support. He had become brain-dead and in a coma after being diagnosed with meningitis earlier in the week, Duran said. "We don't want to panic people," Duran told the Los Angeles Times. "But we learned 30 years ago the consequences of delay in the response to AIDS. We are sounding the alarm that sexually active gay men need to be aware that we have a strain of meningitis that is deadly on our hands." In March, the New York City Health Department recommended men having sex with men should be vaccinated for meningitis after four new cases of meningitis among men who have sex with men were reported since the beginning of January -- bringing the total to 17 cases since 2012. The White Party is an annual spring break gathering drawing 8,000-10,000 gay men nationwide. Meningitis is not a sexually transmitted disease, but the White Party "is known for being a weekend of fun, play, dance and sex," Duran said. Organisms causing meningitis can be passed from one person to another or passed from rodents and insects to people, but exposure to an organism that causes meningitis does not mean a person will get infected. Meningitis can be spread via coughing and sneezing, kissing, sexual contact, or contact with infected blood. The human immunodeficiency virus also can cause meningitis and can be passed from an infected person to another person through blood or sexual contact but not through kissing, WebMD reported. "We don't know yet if we can make that connection between individuals at the White Party and the resident (Shaad)," Duran said. "We don't want to be alarmist ... but at the same time, we'd rather be alarmist than sit back and be criticized" for not doing anything.