TEEN TREATED FOR BACTERIAL MENINGITIS CLASSMATES AT LAKE TAYLOR HIGH SCHOOL WARNED ABOUT CONTAGIOUS, POTENTIALLY FATAL DISEASE.(LOCAL) - The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA)

Byline: CINDY CLAYTON THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

NORFOLK -- A Lake Taylor High School student was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis on Valentine's Day, health officials said Thursday.

No one else he had contact with reportedly has become ill.

The student, an 18-year-old senior, is being taught at home until a doctor allows him to go back to campus, said Norfolk school spokesman George Raiss.

``He is making satisfactory progress,'' Raiss said.

Students who came into close contact with him received letters and were encouraged to see a doctor for antibiotics, said Norfolk Health Department Director Valerie Stallings. But health officials received no reports that anyone else showed signs of infection, she said.

Some people did seek antibiotics for preventive treatment, but Stallings said she did not know how many.

Bacterial meningitis, inflammation of the lining around the brain, can be spread only through close interaction - through saliva or contact with a person's mucous, Stallings said. Most commonly it can be spread through kissing or sharing toothbrushes, drinking glasses, eating utensils or cigarettes.

Health Department officials interviewed those closest to the Lake Taylor senior and worked with the school to identify students who may have been exposed, Stalling said.

The case was not made public, Stallings said, because it posed no widespread risk.

Last week, a second-grader at a Newport News elementary school was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis and was treated at a hospital. She is expected to recover.

Meningitis symptoms may appear two to 10 days after exposure, according to a Health Department fact sheet. Stallings said that anyone who experiences a fever, headache, rash and stiff neck should seek medical treatment immediately. The disease is fatal in about 1 in 10 cases.

For more information about meningitis, call the nearest health department or a doctor.

Reach Cindy Clayton at cclayton@pilotonline.com or at 446-2540.