The Alabama Department of Public Health is investigating a case of meningococcal disease, the leading cause of bacterial meningitis in children between the ages of 2 and 18 in the United States.
In a news release yesterday, the department’s immunization division said the case was found at Scottsboro Junior High School in Jackson County. No other cases have been identified.
Medical Officer Dr. Karen Landers says the department has already started contacting parents to make them aware of the exposure.
Symptoms of meningococcal disease include a sudden onset of fever, headache, stiff neck, confusion and sometimes a rash.
Landers says the disease is highly contagious and spread to others within two to 10 days by contact through respiratory and throat secretions, such as saliva.
