LilyBett, He has viral meningitis, not bacterial. Viral can and cannot be spread depending on the virus involved. Bacterial would be the kind to worry about and is highly fatal if not treated. It is also super contagious. Either way she should be careful because who knows whats lurking at the hospital.
My good friend had bacterial meningitis from doing her clinicals in nursing school and was VERY ill. Thats the only reason i know that.

To answer the question about meningitis, it’s only the bacterial meningitis that is highly contagious and people stricken with it are usually quarantined. Peter had viral meningitis, so was not considered to be contagious or dangerous to other people. Thankfully, he is doing much better and was released from the hospital to continue recuperating at home.

After living with the after effects of meningitis almost since birth, I do know that the disease most definitely CAN have lasting physical effects on infants. Katie’s baby could have symptoms that make it seem like the baby has cerebral palsy (my symptoms), to possible hearing difficulties, etc.

It would be rather sad if Katie ended up with a second child with a disability, but hopefully they’ll be able to handle it if it actually happens.

(I also hope Harvey and Junior don’t contract meninigitis too, or Katie & Peter would REALLY have much on their plate!)

She is allowed to visit but not go into the room, doctors have advised her not to take the children in or to touch him, which must make it even worse for her.

Say what you like about them but they love each other and he is a great guy. about 12 years or so ago he visited a friend of mine’s sick cousin in a hospital as he had heard about her being in a coma and visited her with NO publicity whatsoever. He is a genuinely lovely person.

I wish him a speedy recovery.

I was wondering the same thing about if she should be around him or not. I do know from my experience that when a coworker found out he had shingles, the doctor told me it was too late. That it’s contagious in the early stages before you really know you have it so there was no point in staying away from him now that he knew. And I was in my third trimester so they didn’t believe it would have any effect on the baby anyway. So maybe it’s similar for their situation?

That’s not a good thing to have. I hope he gets well soon!

Uhhh, should a pregnant woman be around someone with meningitis? I would have thought it was one of those illnesses/diseases that pregnant women, children and old people would have to avoid.

Does anyone know more about it from a medical perspective?

On Sunday or Monday the husband of a nurse that works at the hospital had the nerve to leak to a news paper that Peter had died. So of course, the paper started a completely false story about his death…and even contacted his family about it in Australia.

People were leaving all these sad and tribute-style messages on his officical site. They had to issue a statement on the site on his behalf that he was in fact not dead.

I can only imagine that hearing all that hoo-ha must only have been a lot more distressing for Jordan.

I guess that’s kinda cute that she brings him a towel “so he can smell home”. It just reminds me of something you’d do for a pet or a child…of course men do tend to be big babies when they are ill!