Penn State reports a case of bacterial meningitis

The Penn State University treats a student on its main campus for meningococcal meningitis, the university confirmed Monday on its website.

The school said it identified only one case and the unidentified student was recovering at the Mount Nittany Medical Center.

"University Health Services, a unit of Penn State Student Affairs, is working closely with the Pennsylvania Department of Health to monitor the case," said the school. "The close contacts of the student, who resides on campus, have been notified and have received the appropriate prophylactic antibiotic."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), meningococcal meningitis, a bacterial infection, can lead to inflammation of the brain and the membranes of the spinal cord. Symptoms of bacterial meningitis, transmitted through close contact with an infected person, include neck stiffness, nausea, vomiting, confusion, and sensitivity to light.

"Bacterial meningitis is very serious and can be fatal," according to the CDC. "Death can occur in just a few hours.Most people are recovering from meningitis.However, the infection can result in permanent disabilities (such as brain damage, hearing loss, and difficulty in the home). 39; learning). "

The Penn State University campus is visible on November 8, 2011. The university said that she was treating a student for bacterial meningitis. Rob Carr / Getty Images

According to the CDC, an average of 4,100 cases of bacterial meningitis, treated with antibiotics, were reported in the United States each year between 2003 and 2007. The infection caused approximately 500 deaths annually over the same period .

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A CDC study released last month found that first-year college students living in dormitories were more than seven times more likely than other students to get an infection that causes meningitis, ABC News reported. The study, based on data from September 1998 to August 1999, found no clear relationship as to why the risk for first-year students was much higher than for other students and the general population. 18 and 23 years old. But the CDC noted that "infectious diseases tend to spread where large groups of people congregate".

Bacterial meningitis has caused a number of deaths on college campuses in recent years.

In 2013, Emily Stillman, a 19-year-old student at Kalamazoo College, died of the infection soon after calling her family about a headache, according to NBC News. The same year, Princeton University struggled to contain an epidemic of bacterial meningitis, reported NPR. The strain that spread through New Jersey University killed Stephanie Ross, a student at Drexel University in Philadelphia in 2014, according to CBS News. Sara Stelzer, an 18-year-old student at San Diego State University, died after contracting meningitis the same year.