Posts Tagged ‘Mayor Richard M Daley’
Bacterial Meningitis Crisis averted in Chicago
Chicagoans have praised the city for its handling of a bacterial meningitis outbreak among its gay residents in October. City officials quickly set up emergency clinics, distributed fliers and fact sheets, and vaccinated 14,267 people in eight days. The city’s action limited the casualties of the crisis to three gay men dead and three seriously ill.
“The city moved so quickly and so smoothly because it just put into effect the plans it made for fighting bioterrorism,” said Bill Greaves, the gay liaison to Mayor Richard M. Daley.
Greaves discounted a rumor that the outbreak originated with a popular gay bartender who liked to kiss patrons and then died of the disease. With meningitis outbreaks, he said, there is no “patient zero.”