Chicago Department of Public Health announced, on July 9, that a seventh case of meningococcal disease had been reported in the area.
The case was confirmed over the Fourth of July weekend, said Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Julie Morita, shortly after briefing members of the City Council's LGBT and Black Caucuses, as well as its Health Committee.
A seventh possible case was announced in late June, but that turned out not be part of the meningococcal strain causing the outbreak that had already infected five Chicagoans and one person from suburban DuPage County, Morita added. One of those Chicagoans died from the infection.
All of the infected individuals were men who have sex with men ( MSM ), so health officials have been urging all gay and bisexual men, to be vaccinated. They also recommend the vaccination for transgender women, straight women who may have had sex with a gay man and HIV-positive individuals.
"Those numbers are small, but, because this disease is so serious, and we have a well-defined group at riskall are gay or bisexual menwe really need to intensify and continue our efforts for vaccinating," Morita explained. "All gay or bisexual men should receive this vaccine."
Six of the seven cases are African American men, she added. The strain in the outbreak has led to both cases of meningitis and bloodstream infections. "With a bloodstream infection, it can be very serious. People can lose limbs and have significant medical complications. It doesn't affect how we respond. If it were all bloodstream infections we would respond the same as if it were all meningitis cases."
CDPH distributed about 11,000 doses of the vaccine for Chicagoans. Morita estimated that over 5,000 of those have been used, but noted that private physicians who inoculated their own patients would have drawn from their own supplies and would not be counted in that figure.
"The Pride events were helpful," Morita said. "Because Alderman ( Tom ) Tunney got vaccinated publicly, there was a lot of momentum around that, and around Pride. Through those [Pride-month] events, I think we vaccinated about 2,000 people. The challenge in the months ahead is getting people to go to get their vaccine in more traditional places."
CDPH lists vaccination locations at both bit.ly/1Jr8C9M and chicagomeningvax.org/ . They can also be located by calling 311.