Nova Scotia’s Department of Health and Wellness says laboratory test results confirm Acadia University student Sarah Hastings had the B strain of meningitis.
The Acadia University student’s roommate found her unresponsive in her dorm room on Jan. 31. The student, who is originally from Cambridge, Ont., died two days later in hospital.
Hastings was the second meningitis death in Nova Scotia in the last few weeks.
Rylee Sears, a Grade 10 student from Lower Sackville, N.S., died one week before Hastings. However, Sears had contracted the Y strain of meningitis — one that will be covered in Nova Scotia’s new vaccination formula being rolled out this fall.
Meningitis B strain is not covered by the current vaccine issued to Nova Scotia students. It will also not be a part of the new meningitis vaccine formula coming later this year.
Before the two recent deaths, it had been a decade since Nova Scotia had a meningitis fatality. The province sees zero to four cases of the illness per year.
