R.I. schools to reopen after meningitis and encephalitis scare

Saturday, January 6th 2007, 8:01 pm

By: News On 6

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) _ Schools in three communities decided to reopen Monday because health investigators found no link between an elementary student who contracted meningitis and three others in the state who were infected with encephalitis.

Students likely will see more hand-sanitizing stations in their schools as officials work to ensure that no similar scares occur.

Mycoplasma bacteria was blamed for the cases of encephalitis in Warwick and West Warwick in the past few weeks. One second-grade student died from the neurological illness last month.

More than 20,000 Rhode Island students were kept out of school on Thursday and Friday as authorities searched for a possible link between the cases.

Test results received Saturday from a student at Hopkins Hill Elementary School in Coventry who developed meningitis showed the child did not have mycoplasma, according to the state Health Department.

David Gifford, director of the state health department, said that an investigation by the state and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined that ``there are no new cases of encephalitis in children, no increased levels of mycoplasma pneumoniae-associated illness and no concentration of that illness in any community.''

All public schools and after-school activities were closed Thursday and Friday in Warwick, West Warwick and Coventry. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence also closed eight schools in those communities as a precaution.

Meningitis is an inflammation of membranes protecting the brain, and encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain itself. Mycoplasma can occasionally cause such neurological complications.