LA gay community is warned after meningitis struck 33-year-old lawyer

LOS ANGELES — Officials in West Hollywood are warning members of the gay community to take extra precautions to prevent the spread of potentially fatal meningitis.

City Councilman John Duran stood alongside Chris Brown, director of health and mental health for the LA Gay and Lesbian Center, on Friday afternoon to urge residents to be cautious after 33-year-old lawyer Brett Shaad was declared brain dead on Friday after contracting the disease.

"We don't want to panic people," Duran said. "But we learned 30 years ago the consequences of delay in the response to AIDS. We are sounding the alarm that sexually active gay men need to be aware that we have a strain of meningitis that is deadly on our hands."

Duran choked up as he spoke about Shaad, whom he had seen a week earlier. 

He described the young lawyer as "robust and healthy"  before his health started to decline on Monday.

Shaad reportedly spent Easter weekend at the White Party in Palm Springs, a gathering that draws thousands of gay men from across the country.

He began to feel ill after returning home and by Thursday had slipped into a coma.

"If this resident was in fact in attendance at the White Party, it raises the issue, so we want to get the word out to any gay men that were at the White Party, that if they have any of these symptoms, go see their physician immediately," Duran said at the news conference.

While not officially a sexually transmitted disease, meningitis is often transmitted through sexual activity and kissing. 

Tests were being done to see if the strain of illness is similar to the meningococcal infections that has infected 22 men in New York City since 2010.