Soldier at Ft. McCoy likely dead of meningitis

(AP) - A soldier with a Virginia-based unit preparing to go to Iraq died after contracting what health officials believe was a severe case of bacterial meningitis.

None of the thousands of other troops training at this western Wisconsin Army base have shown symptoms, but the death left officials watching Tuesday for any reports of fever, nausea and rashes.

"The last thing we need is for this to go any further," fort spokeswoman Linda Fournier said.

Fort McCoy lies between Sparta and Tomah about an hour and 45 minutes northwest of Madison. The base serves as a training facility for thousands of soldiers before they deploy to combat zones.

Fournier said about 6,000 troops were on the base Tuesday, including 4,000 preparing to deploy and another 2,000 going through routine summer training.

Fort officials did not release the dead soldier's name, gender or age pending notification of relatives. The soldier was part of the 237th Engineer Company, a National Guard unit out of West Point, Va., Fournier said.

The group of about 100 soldiers had been training at Fort McCoy since July 22, learning how to clear roads of homemade bombs. The unit is scheduled to ship out to Iraq in September or October, Fournier said.

The soldier complained to base medical workers Monday morning of a fever and died Monday evening on the way to St. Marys Hospital at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., officials said.

Monroe County Health Department director Sharon Nelson said health officials believe the soldier contracted meningococcal disease, a form of meningitis. An autopsy is pending, Fournier said.

No other cases of meningitis had been reported by Tuesday afternoon, but health officials were looking for anyone who had come in close contact with soldier who died, Nelson said.

Twenty-seven members of 237th who had come into close contact with the soldier were evaluated at area hospitals and at the fort's clinics Tuesday, but none showed symptoms, Fournier said.

Bacterial meningitis can be spread through saliva and other bodily fluids. People who had contact with the soldier will be put on a course of antibiotics, Nelson said. Those who shared a drink or a cigarette would be at particular risk, she said.

Fewer than 3,000 cases of invasive meningococcal disease are reported in the U.S. each year, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control. About 40 cases of the disease are reported in Wisconsin annually, with about 10 percent of them fatal.

Fournier said fort officials aren't sure whether the soldier came to Fort McCoy with the disease or contracted it on the base.

Up to 5 percent of the U.S. population can carry the bacteria without showing symptoms, according to the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventative Medicine, Fournier said.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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