No panic needed over Toronto's meningitis

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by Patrick Lejtenyi

With all the Divers/Cité merrymaking going on this week, the spread of a potentially fatal infectious disease is not the kind of thing most people want to think about. But a handful of recent cases of meningitis among Toronto's gay population over the past two months have alerted Montreal's Direction de la santé publique (DSP) to take the time to warn the local gay population.

"There have been no cases of an outbreak among the gay population of Montreal," says Deborah Bonney, communications officer for the DSP, "but what with the influx of all the people we thought it might be a good idea to make people aware of the fact."

Five Toronto gay men have been diagnosed with the disease since May, two of whom have died. The Toronto city government, Bonney says, acted quickly, setting up vaccination areas in Boystown clinics and bathouses.

"We are responding to questions brought to us by the gay community here," says John Carsley, head of the Infectious Disease Unit at the DSP. "We just feel that it's good for the gay population to know about it. But there is no need to get vaccinated."