The family of a 46-year-old man who died Monday after a brief illness believed to be meningitis is still waiting for answers, and so is the Alabama Department of Public Health.

Keith “Beefy” Foshee died Monday afternoon at Andalusia Regional Hospital. His first cousin, Donna Raines, said family members believe he died of meningococcal meningitis.

Raines said Foshee appeared to be fine on Saturday, and canoed with four friends on the Conecuh River. He awoke at about 2:30 a.m. Monday with virus-like symptoms, she said.

“They couldn’t see the doctor he normally uses, and went to the emergency room at 2:30 p.m.,” Raines said.

Shortly after he arrived at the ER, she said, he coded.

Initial indications from bloodwork were that Foshee had the extremely contagious form of meningitis, Raines said, adding that everyone who had worked on him, lived with him, or had been near him, was given a precautionary dose of Cipro, an antibiotic used to treat certain bacterial infections of the urinary tract, lower respiratory (lung) tract, skin, bone, joint, stomach, sinuses and prostate.

“We were all treated last night at ARH,” Raines said Tuesday.

Raines said two of the people who were with Foshee on Saturday are fine; another got sick Monday. Raines said that a companion was driving back to North Alabama when she learned of Foshee’s illness. She stopped and was treated at a hospital, and was in better health on Tuesday, Raines said.

Andalusia Regional Hospital did not release specific information about the case. However, a spokeswoman did confirm that personnel followed up on a case Monday with infectious control policies.

“A patient was treated in the Emergency Department (Monday) night for an infection that could be contagious,” the statement said. “Out of an abundance of caution, we followed our Infection Control policies and diverted ambulance traffic for a brief period in order to disinfect the unit. Appropriate public health authorities have been notified about this case. We resumed all normal activities by 9 p.m. (Monday) night.”

There was no one quarantined at the hospital on Tuesday, she said.

The Alabama Department of Public Health’s Theresa Porter, a registered nurse who serves as emergency preparedness coordinator, said it is very early in the process of determining Foshee’s cause of death.

“It appears to be a bacterial illness,” Porter said. “We have a suspicion based upon the initial test. But the gold standard is, we won’t know until we get the culture.

“When we don’t have the gold standard, and we have the presentation of someone with symptoms, we take precautions,” she said.

Porter called the disease neisseria meninigitidis, also known as meningocochal disease.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, common symptoms of meningococcal meningitis include sudden fever, headache and stiff neck. Other symptoms can include nausea, vomiting, increased sensitivity to light, and confusion. Meningococcal disease can also cause an infection of the blood, which can lead to tiredness, vomiting, cold hands and feet, chills, severe aches and pain, fast breathing, diarrhea, and a dark purple rash.

Porter said that, based on everything she knows about the disease, it is spread through the human reservoir.

“Normally, this is not a casual spread,” Porter said. “It is usually a close contact, so people living in the same home, who have spent the night in the same place or shared same air space are at risk

“Also, it can be spread through saliva, like sharing drinks,” she said, or through sexual contact.

“It is spread person to person,” she said. “Usually, the recommendation of treatment is for those very close, not, ‘I saw him two weeks ago.’ ”

The usual incubation period for the disease is up to 10 days, she said.

For complete obituary information on Foshee, see Page 5.

The family of a 46-year-old man who died Monday after a brief illness believed to be meningitis is still waiting for answers, and so is the Alabama Department of Public Health.

Keith “Beefy” Foshee died Monday afternoon at Andalusia Regional Hospital. His first cousin, Donna Raines, said family members believe he died of meningococcal meningitis.

Raines said Foshee appeared to be fine on Saturday, and canoed with four friends on the Conecuh River. He awoke at about 2:30 a.m. Monday with virus-like symptoms, she said.

“They couldn’t see the doctor he normally uses, and went to the emergency room at 2:30 p.m.,” Raines said.

Shortly after he arrived at the ER, she said, he coded.

Initial indications from bloodwork were that Foshee had the extremely contagious form of meningitis, Raines said, adding that everyone who had worked on him, lived with him, or had been near him, was given a precautionary dose of Cipro, an antibiotic used to treat certain bacterial infections of the urinary tract, lower respiratory (lung) tract, skin, bone, joint, stomach, sinuses and prostate.

“We were all treated last night at ARH,” Raines said Tuesday.

Raines said two of the people who were with Foshee on Saturday are fine; another got sick Monday. Raines said that a companion was driving back to North Alabama when she learned of Foshee’s illness. She stopped and was treated at a hospital, and was in better health on Tuesday, Raines said.

Andalusia Regional Hospital did not release specific information about the case. However, a spokeswoman did confirm that personnel followed up on a case Monday with infectious control policies.

“A patient was treated in the Emergency Department (Monday) night for an infection that could be contagious,” the statement said. “Out of an abundance of caution, we followed our Infection Control policies and diverted ambulance traffic for a brief period in order to disinfect the unit. Appropriate public health authorities have been notified about this case. We resumed all normal activities by 9 p.m. (Monday) night.”

There was no one quarantined at the hospital on Tuesday, she said.

The Alabama Department of Public Health’s Theresa Porter, a registered nurse who serves as emergency preparedness coordinator, said it is very early in the process of determining Foshee’s cause of death.

“It appears to be a bacterial illness,” Porter said. “We have a suspicion based upon the initial test. But the gold standard is, we won’t know until we get the culture.

“When we don’t have the gold standard, and we have the presentation of someone with symptoms, we take precautions,” she said.

Porter called the disease neisseria meninigitidis, also known as meningocochal disease.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, common symptoms of meningococcal meningitis include sudden fever, headache and stiff neck. Other symptoms can include nausea, vomiting, increased sensitivity to light, and confusion. Meningococcal disease can also cause an infection of the blood, which can lead to tiredness, vomiting, cold hands and feet, chills, severe aches and pain, fast breathing, diarrhea, and a dark purple rash.

Porter said that, based on everything she knows about the disease, it is spread through the human reservoir.

“Normally, this is not a casual spread,” Porter said. “It is usually a close contact, so people living in the same home, who have spent the night in the same place or shared same air space are at risk

“Also, it can be spread through saliva, like sharing drinks,” she said, or through sexual contact.

“It is spread person to person,” she said. “Usually, the recommendation of treatment is for those very close, not, ‘I saw him two weeks ago.’ ”

The usual incubation period for the disease is up to 10 days, she said.