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About 600 Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) students have been screened for meningitis, an infectious disease which affects the brain and spinal cord, following the death of two undergraduates on June 27 and 29 respectively.

The Selangor Health Department is investigating the circumstances of the dangerous and contagious disease, UPM chief medical officer Dr Yahaya Abu Ahmad told malaysiakini today.

He confirmed the death of Loy Cheah Kee and D Thiyagarajan, both 23, in their rented homes in Taman Bukit Serdang and Taman Balakong Jaya respectively, located about 15 minutes' drive from the campus.

Meningitis is caused by bacteria which is lodged in the nose and throat of an infected person. It is an airborne disease, similar to tuberculosis (TB). The symptoms include fever, coughing and sore-throat.

All the housemates of the two undergraduates underwent medical tests at the Kajang Hospital and tested negative for the disease.

Loy, a third-year computer science undergraduate, hailed from Alor Setar, Kedah, while third-year diploma in agriculture student Thiyagarajan was from Mentakab, Pahang.

Yahaya said he had briefed the deans of all the faculties in UPM on the facts in order to prevent a panic situation. Notices were put up early last week in the agriculture and computer science faculties urging students to go for screening at the campus' health centre.

Not panic state

"The deans have been asked to explain the situation to the students, many of whom are alarmed but not in a panicky state.

"We have asked all those who had close contact with either of the deceased students, particularly their friends and coursemates, to get themselves screened and they have all tested negative."

He said the majority of the 600 students who had undergone screening were from the agriculture and the computer science faculties, with the rest from other faculties who had heard about the two cases.

"We conducted blood tests on those who came in with the symptoms and prescribed the antibiotic Rifampicin (also known as Rifampin)."

According to the US National Library of Medicine's MEDLINEplus Health Information website

, Rifampin is used to treat certain bacterial infections, including TB. It is taken by itself by patients who are carriers of the meningitis bacteria. The site said Rifampin will not work for colds, flu or other viral infections.

Tested negative

Yahaya said two of Loy's housemates were admitted to the Kajang Hospital but were discharged after several days.

The other housemates were screened and cleared by Kajang Hospital.

Two more students had also been admitted but were discharged a few days later after testing negative for meningitis, he added.

On the cause of death, he said the postmortem on Thiyagarajan confirmed that he had died of meningitis but similar tests could not be done on Loy as his body had already been released to his family by then.

He said additional tests are usually done whenever doctors suspect a reason other than the actual cause of death.

"In this case, Loy's postmortem result had showed similar symptoms."

Caution students

On the chances of other students contracting meningitis, Yahaya said it was "remote" among those who had not come in close contact with Loy or Thiyagarajan, but cautioned students to check immediately with the health centre if they experienced the symptoms.

He said cases of meningitis were usually rampant in Arab and African countries, especially among travellers.

"That is why Haj pilgrims have to undergo immunisation for meningitis before leaving Malaysia.

"But it cannot be spread by sharing eating utensils," he explained.

When contacted for details of the investigation into the source of the disease in UPM, an officer with the Petaling district health department said all the officers in Selangor were out of town attending a talk, and can only be reached on Wednesday.