There has been another death from bacterial meningitis is Tuscarawas County, the second in two weeks. But, the cases do not appear to be related.
Tuscarawas County Health Commissioner Katie Seward says there is no known connection between the latest victim--whose identity is not yet being released—and 14-year-old Ryan Freedland of Port Washington, who died Dec. 15th.
But she says her department and state health authorities are continuing to investigate because it unusual for two cases, much less two fatal cases, to occur in such a short period of time.
“For the whole state of Ohio in 2016, there were 134 cases of bacterial meningitis. Only seven of those resulted in death.”
Seward says that beyond the victims being from opposite sides of the county, there is another thing separating the two cases; they involved completely different strains of meningitis-causing bacteria.
