Greek Life officials recently discovered an unknown, potentially harmful material in the Theta Xi fraternity house’s attic. (Matt Mitgang | Student Life)

The material has not been tested, and its identification cannot be confirmed, but none of the residents living in the house are at risk, according to David Wallace, coordinator for Greek housing programs.

Following this discovery, the Greek Life Office (GLO) took air samples of the living areas to ensure that the house’s residents were not in danger and hired a contractor to contain the area and extract the material. An air quality test came back negative.

“We don’t know [if] it’s dangerous, but we’re treating it as we would if it was asbestos,” Wallace said. “We decided it was better to just remove it.”

Wallace said the work will take five to seven days and will “have little to no impact on the men living inside the chapter house.”

Theta Xi, located on the Upper Fraternity Row, is home to 16 fraternity brothers housed in its 15 bedrooms.

Theta Xi brothers, according to Wallace, were initially concerned about their safety and were provided alternative living options should they feel that they were exposed to hazardous material.

“The air-quality test put them at a lot more ease,” Wallace said.

Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that can be toxic or carcinogenic when inhaled in high concentrations over a long period of time. The Environmental Protection Agency issued a ban and phase-out on asbestos in 1989, which was overturned by a ruling in 1991.

House 1—the former Sigma Alpha Mu house—will be turned into housing for the “Sports Enthusiasts Bloc.” (Matt Mitgang | Student Life)

Since the eviction of Sigma Alpha Mu and Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternities from their respective Greek houses on Fraternity Row, the Office of Residential Life  has taken over both House 1 and House 6 to use for upperclassmen bloc housing.

“For the upcoming school year, House 6 will continue to be managed by Residential Life,” Dan Sepion, the residential college director of the Village and House 6, wrote in an e-mail to Student Life. “It will continue to be part of the Village Residential College.”

House 6, formerly the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house, is currently home to around 20 residents. Next year, it will be a part of the Village BLOC Program and will house the “Transfer Year and Beyond” Bloc.

The former house of Sigma Alpha Mu, House 1, will also be a part of the Village BLOC program. In the upcoming school year, House 1, which accommodates up to 35 residents, will house the “Sports Enthusiasts Bloc.”

In late February, Greek Life leaders and the Campus Life Office considered turning House 1 into a “Panhellenic house” that would include four or five women from each of Washington University’s seven sororities. The plan for the first official residence in the University’s history for sorority women, however, did not transpire. Resident Life eventually took over the management of House 1.

“We need as many beds as possible on campus to house students, so we worked with Greek Life to fill those beds [in House 1],” Sepion wrote.

A University-wide e-mail sent out Friday afternoon notified the campus of the student’s reported infection. The University is not releasing the student’s name, and has not sent out another notification since Friday.

But Roberts said that the student will return to campus life soon and that his fraternity brothers and visitors to the house stand no risk of contracting the disease.

“It’s of no risk or no consequence at this point,” Roberts said. “The bacteria that it could be contracted from is very, very short-lived outside the host so once the student was taken to the hospital there was no risk to anyone coming in the house.”

Roberts added that even so, Aramark disinfected the house and the University gave residents a strong antibiotic to counteract any potential contagion.

In addition to house brothers, the patient and other members of the campus community who were in close contact with him during the 10 days before Friday were notified and are undergoing preventive medical treatment at Student Health Services (SHS).

The University does not require students to be vaccinated against meningitis. Even so, it is likely that a very high percentage of University students have been vaccinated because it is common and required in many states.

A viral or bacterial infection, meningococcal meningitis is an infection of the fluid in a person’s spinal cord and the fluid that surrounds the brain.

Meningococcal meningitis is a serious and potentially fatal infection. Whether the infection is fatal depends on how quickly the patient receives the appropriate treatment, according to Lawrence.

Meningococcal bacteria are transmitted from person to person in droplets of respiratory or throat secretions, through activities such as kissing, sneezing or coughing on someone or sharing food or drink. Those who have had casual contact with the student, such as fellow classmates, are not at risk.

“This is not highly contagious, so it requires quite a bit of contact to go from person to person,” said Steven Lawrence, an assistant professor of medicine in the infectious disease department at Washington University’s Barnes-Jewish Medical Center.

Meningococcal meningitis can only be transmitted from close person-to-person contact, not from the environment, so the fraternity house would not constitute a risk to visitors.

According to University spokeswoman Joni Westerhouse, the final determination of whether the student has contracted meningitis will depend on pending lab results.

Lawrence explained that in confirmed cases of meningococcal meningitis, the bacteria grow in a culture obtained either from the blood or the spinal fluid.

In a suspected case like this one, the blood and spinal fluid samples do not form cultures, but the patient’s symptoms suggest an infection.

Young adults, according to Lawrence, are at the highest risk of contracting the disease.

“[Groups of young adults] are oftentimes a large number of people from all over the country, coming together in a relatively confined space,” Lawrence said.

Students and staff members who believe they may be at risk are instructed to contact SHS. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, symptoms of meningococcal meningitis include high fever, headache and stiff neck, as well as nausea, vomiting, discomfort looking into bright lights, confusion and sleepiness.

With additional reporting by Ben Sales