Meningitis Claims Bentley Student

100907-erin-ortiz.jpgA Bentley student has died of bacterial meningitis. 18-year-old Erin Ortiz was hospitalized while visiting family in New Hampton, New York, and she died yesterday.

The Herald spoke to Bentley's VP of student affairs, Kathleen Yorkis:

She went out to dinner with her family Saturday night and went to bed early, Yorkis said. Sometime after midnight, she woke up her sister and said her “head felt so painful.”
“We lost our daughter in 36 hours,” [her father] Raymond Ortiz told Yorkis.

She was studying corporate finance and accounting.

As a result of her death, 30 people have been put on antibiotics. She had received a vaccination of bacterial meningitis, but the vaccination doesn't protect people against all strains of the disease. For a Q&A about meningitis and its symptoms, visit the CDC's page on the subject.

Family photo from WNBC.com.

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