Willingboro student reported ill with meningitis

A Willingboro High School student has been diagnosed with meningitis, according to a letter sent Friday from the school district to parents.

The male student has been treated with antibiotics and is recovering, Holly Cucuzzella, a Burlington County health educator, said yesterday.

"Our most important thing was who this individual had close contact with and making sure those people were tested," said Cucuzzella. She added that the number of contacts tested "wasn't a large number" and that none had tested positive.

In New Jersey, there are fewer than 100 cases of meningitis a year, according to a 2005 state Health and Senior Services report. Symptoms of the disease include a fever, rash, nausea, and neck stiffness. Cucuzzella said that only people who came in close contact with an infected person - for example, kissing or sharing a water bottle - could contract the disease.

- Matthew Spolar