MENINGITIS CASES ARE ON THE RISE ACROSS MISSOURI

Michael Sweet knows all about the menace of meningitis.

His 13-year-old son, Mikey, died of meningitis two years ago this month after initially coming down with flu-like symptoms.

The family lived in Cape Girardeau at the time. Mikey Sweet was a seventh-grader at L.J. Schultz School.

The family -- Michael and his wife Rachel and their three other children -- have since moved to the Delta area.

But time has done little to tackle the tragedy.

"We never get over it, of course," said Michael Sweet.

On Monday, 17-year-old Eureka High School student Jennifer Thompson died from a form of bacterial meningitis called meningococcal meningitis.

A different kind of meningitis killed Mikey Sweet.

But Michael Sweet can empathize with the tragedy that has hit the Thompson family.

"These people have to learn to deal with it now," he said. "It is a very awful thing."

Meningitis is often difficult to diagnose. Death can occur quickly.

The Eureka High School student was treated at a Chesterfield hospital at 3:30 a.m. Monday. She was sent home at 5 a.m.

But later that morning, she was taken by ambulance to another St. Louis area hospital. She died at 2:26 p.m., 12 hours after she first sought medical treatment.

Michael Sweet said his son also wasn't diagnosed initially with meningitis and had suffered from flu-like symptoms for about two days.

The disease had affected one of his eyes by the time they took him to Southeast Missouri Hospital.

But even then, Michael Sweet said he had no hint that his son had only hours to live.

The 13-year-old boy walked into the hospital. Michael Sweet said his son was coherent.

But hours later, he was comatose. Michael Sweet said his son was at Southeast Missouri Hospital for about 10 hours before doctors sent him by helicopter to a St. Louis hospital, where he died March 10, 1995.

Michael Sweet remains bitter about his son's death. But he said he won't point a finger at the doctors or hospitals.

He advised parents to pay attention to the symptoms of meningitis such as a very stiff neck, constant fluctuations in temperature and severe headaches.

He said he and his wife today keep a close eye on their other children when they get sick.

Initially, meningitis can resemble a bad case of the flu, said Sue Tippen, communicable disease coordinator for the Missouri Health Department in Poplar Bluff.

That makes it difficult to diagnose, she said. "It is not the doctors' fault. They are treating symptoms."

Meningococcal disease has been on the rise in Missouri in recent years, state health officials said.

Thompson was the third St. Louis area resident to die from the disease this year. At least 16 confirmed or probable cases have been reported.

Statewide, 101 cases of meningococcal disease were reported in 1996, up from 76 in 1995 and 78 in 1994.

In the 25-county Southeast Missouri region, there were 14 cases reported last year. That was up from five in 1995 and nine in 1994, state health officials said.

Deaths are rare, Tippen said.

In 1995, meningococcal meningitis killed one person in Southeast Missouri, she said.

Five cases of the disease have been reported in Southeast Missouri so far this year. Those who contracted the illness ranged in age from 2 to 34.

"This is not just a childhood disease," Tippen said.

The state keeps track of meningococcal meningitis, but not other forms of meningitis.

Tippen said there are many forms of meningitis, which can result in a fatal swelling of tissue surrounding the brain and spinal cord.

Michael Sweet's son died of a strep-type meningitis. A 15-year-old Dexter High School student, Troy William "Billy" Boone, died in April 1996 from a different strep-type meningitis.

"What hits the news is a death," said Tippen. "But there are lots of meningitis cases that are not as serious."