Hit With Meningitis, R.I. Tries To Immunize Its Youths

By Jessica Portner

Students across Rhode Island rolled up their sleeves last week as the state health department continued its massive inoculation campaign against a potentially deadly bacterial infection that has stricken a dozen youths so far this year.

Three of the Rhode Island youths who contracted meningigococcal meningitis this year have died. And 24 people in the state, which has a population of 997,000, fell ill with the disease last year--a 300 percent increase from 1994, when seven cases were reported.

State health officials are at a loss to explain what has triggered the sharp rise in cases of the rare, deadly bacterial infection. Because the occurrences have been unrelated, they cannot...