There is possibly a second case of meningitis in Crook County. The Crook County Health Department was notified yesterday about a 24 year old man who went to a Prineville hospital and was then taken by Airlink to St. Charles. On March 9th a 16 year old Crook County High School student was diagnosed with meningitis and has been fighting for his life in a Portland hospital. Karen Yeargain with Crook County Health Department says this disease is pretty rare in Oregon and Crook County: “For Crook County, since 1996, our high school student was the 5th diagnosed confirmed case of meningococcal disease. Our current person, if meningococcal is confirmed for this person, that would make number 6. Two cases in this close time span, of course is of concern. And the Crook County Health Department will be working with the State Health Division to determine if we’ve reached the community threshold where we feel there’s a general risk as opposed to a specific contact-based risk. Yeargain says Colbey Cloutier, 16, is now is now off of life-support and the condition has been upgrade to "serious."
