Bacterial meningitis led to the death of a fourth U.S. Naval Academy midshipman this year despite the 20-year-old having been vaccinated against the infectious and contagious disease.
Fourth-class or freshman Midshipman Frederick Henry Eissler, 20, of West Chester, Pa., died Monday at the University of Maryland Medical Center from complications caused by meningitis, which is the infection of the spinal cord or the fluid that surrounds the brain.
The bacterial form of meningitis can cause brain damage.
Eissler was sent the Baltimore-Washington Medical Center this past week after showing symptoms of meningitis and was moved Friday to UMMC.
“The Naval Academy is deeply saddened by this tragic loss. Our most heartfelt sympathies and condolences go out to the Eissler family,” said academy superintendent Vice Adm. Jeffrey Fowler in a written statement.
A woman who answered at Eissler’s family residence said no one was available to comment.
Eissler came to the academy in July after a year at the Naval Academy Preparatory School in Rhode Island. While in Annapolis, Eissler was a member of the 22nd Company and played intramural sports.
He is survived by his parents, Fred and Helene, and his four younger sisters.
Eissler’s funeral will be Friday at the academy’s chapel.
“The minute you hear a midshipman died, you think what his parents are feeling, you put yourself in their place — what must they be going through,” said Scott Pospisil, of Temple, Texas, a father of a second-class midshipman.
“They were already missing them and now this happens. Our thoughts are to be praying now.”
Like all midshipmen, Eissler received a meningitis vaccination when he entered the Annapolis institution this past summer as required by the Navy and state law, academy officials said.
However, that vaccination does not guard against Nieserra meningitis, which is the type Eissler contracted, academy officials said.
Since Eissler was sent to the hospital this past week, 63 midshipmen, academy staff members and first responders received antibiotics that combat meningitis.
The antibiotic does combat the form of meningitis that infected Eissler, and no one else has shown signs of meningitis, which is usually spread through close personal contact and bodily fluids, academy officials said.
Capt. Matthew Klunder, the commandant in charge of the midshipmen, sent a letter to parents Friday, saying the period of exposure officials are concerned about was between Nov. 3 and Nov. 12.
Klunder said in the letter that the academy was working with the Anne Arundel health department, Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and the Navy’s Environmental Preventive Medicine Unit and Infectious Disease Department.
“Additionally, my leadership team within Bancroft Hall [which is the dormitory for all midshipmen] is monitoring both the physical and mental well-being of our midshipmen,” Klunder wrote.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said young people, especially those in colleges and the military, are susceptible to meningitis, as they live in close contact with each other.
The academy was required by law to report the possible meningitis case to the Anne Arundel health department and DHMH.
“This is a really tragic situation,” said Karen Black, a DHMH spokeswoman, who said the state department’s response to this incident is no different than any other health issue.
Anne Arundel is one of the agencies monitoring the situation at the academy.
“They have a very capable staff there … and have taken action to provide the proper medication,” said Jinlene Chan, Anne Arundel’s acting deputy health officer for public health.
Maryland has seen 18 potential meningitis cases since Nov. 17, and averages about 20 cases a year since 2005, according to DHMH data.
The state saw 55 cases in 1999, the highest number since that year.
Baltimore City and Prince George’s and Montgomery counties typically see the most cases in a year, but are also some of the state’s largest population centers.
Chan said Anne Arundel usually sees about eight cases a year, two cases of the type of meningitis Eissler contracted.
The advent of the meningitis vaccine has reduced injury and death related to the infection, medical officials said.
“I don’t want to alarm people that this disease is spreading, because that is certainly not the case,” Chan said.
Eissler is the fourth midshipman to die this year, and the second to die of medical causes
Anthony Valliere
Year: Second-class (junior)
Home: Palatine, Ill.
Age: 21
Cause of death: Motorcycle crash Jan. 26 on a highway ramp in Gaithersburg.
Kristen Dickmann
Year: Fourth-class (freshman)
Home: Kennett Square, Pa.
Age: 19
Cause of death: Cardiac arrhythmia May 5. She was on the academy’s varsity volleyball team.
Aaron Reaves
Year: First-class (senior)
Home: Kennesaw, Ga.
Age: 21
Cause of death: Vehicle crash Aug. 28 into a tree near Fredericksburg, Va.
