SANFORD (AP) – School officials have notified parents that an elementary school student has been hospitalized after being diagnosed last week with bacterial meningitis.

Those who came in close contact with the girl have been given antibiotics to protect against the disease that state officials say is communicable but is not spread through casual contact.

Letters sent home to parents of children at Carl J. Lamb School early this week were intended to alert them of the situation and explain symptoms of the disease.

Bacterial meningitis, which causes the lining of the brain and spinal cord to become inflamed, can cause seizures, comas and death if not detected early. Symptoms are similar to the flu and include a severe headache and a stiff neck.

“Because (bacterial meningitis) has the potential to be communicable, it is dealt with aggressively in finding close contacts and ensuring antibiotics are administered,” said Geoff Beckett, assistant epidemiologist at the Maine Bureau of Health.

“The school, the Bureau of Health and the family worked together to see those in close contact (were identified). In most cases, if the disease spreads, symptoms will manifest themselves within three or four days after close contact with someone who has it, with 10 days as the outside window,” Beckett explained.

Sschool principal Robert Clukey wrote parents that the disease spread by sharing a water bottle with the girl or spending a night in the same home.

He noted that the girl’s siblings have displayed no symptoms and other students at the school were not deemed to be at risk.

About eight to 10 cases are reported in Maine each year, Beckett said, and the last time a bacterial meningitis diagnosis spread to more than a single case was 12 years ago.

“It frightens people because it has the potential to be severe,” he said.

In this case, the girl was diagnosed on the Saturday immediately after school vacation.

AP-ES-02-27-04 1154EST