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Bacterial meningitis is a rare disease with less than one infected person per 100,000 yearly.

Meningitis is a reportable condition and the Ohio Department of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maintains surveillance and closely evaluates if there are signs of increase or a local outbreak.

Meningitis is preventable with vaccine. Although meningitis is rare, the infection can be fatal in unvaccinated individuals who are not treated with antibiotics in a timely manner. Survivors can have permanent disability including hearing loss, neurological disability or loss of a limb.

The disease spreads by close or lengthy contact, including respiratory secretions from the nose and throat of infected people. It is not a food-borne disease and the spread of the disease from a "contaminated" object like money, dishes, doorknobs, or clothing is insignificant and cannot be contracted through casual contact or breathing air where an infected person has been.  

The incubation period - the time from exposure to an active illness - is two to 10 days, typically four days. Susceptibility to the disease is generally higher in children and older adults, but the rates of disease increase in adolescence and young adulthood.

Close contacts - such as those sharing sleeping spaces and those sharing eating utensils - are at a higher risk for infection. College students and anyone whose immune system may be weakened due to stress, lack of sleep, etc. are more at risk for contracting the disease when exposed to the bacterium. However, it is important to know that this bacterium occurs naturally and does not cause symptoms in 5 to 25% of the population.

Activities with crowds, exposure to tobacco smoke, and upper respiratory infections increase the risk of bacterial meningitis.

College students may be more likely to engage in high-risk behaviors that are likely to result in exposure, like sharing drinks and other close contact. This results in a slightly increased risk of contracting the disease.

Relatively high vaccination rates have decreased the incidence of meningitis in the college age group, however, several studies have demonstrated that college students have about two to three times the risk of contracting meningitis and those who live in residence halls are at the greatest risks.