The University of California, Davis, is in the process of contacting UC Davis students, faculty and staff who may have been exposed to a possible case of bacterial meningitis Friday, Feb. 27, when a student from Lemoore High School in Kings County visited UC Davis for a statewide agricultural field day.

The Kings County Health Department is treating the Tuesday, March 2, death of the high school student in Lemoore as a probable case of bacterial meningitis. Results from laboratory tests to confirm the cause of death are pending.

The student participated in the Advanced Parliamentary Procedures competition of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Field Day, an annual event hosted by the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences for FFA (Future Farmers of America) and 4-H high school students from throughout California. About 25 high school students were present at the competition. There were 32 UC Davis student volunteers, faculty and staff helping with the field day.

The student returned home to Lemoore Saturday without coming back to campus. He was hospitalized Sunday.

Bacterial meningitis is a contagious disease, but the risk of it being to transmitted to even people in close contact with the infected individual is very low, according to Dr. Michelle Famula, director of the Cowell Student Health Center at UC Davis.

Meningitis is an infection of the fluid of a person's spinal cord and the fluid that surrounds the brain. Symptoms include headache, fever, neck stiffness and vomiting. Medication is available that, if given soon enough, can help prevent or lessen the symptoms of bacterial meningitis. Famula urges anyone who believes they had more than casual contact with the infected student to contact the Cowell Student Health Center at (530) 752-2300.

More information about meningitis is available online at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/meningococcal_g.htm