One kind of bacterial meningitis is meningococcal meningitis. In college-aged students, the most likely cause of meningitis is a bacterium known as Neisseria meningitidis. Untreated, meningococcal infection can be fatal. And, unlike viral meningitis, close contacts of infected individuals must receive treatment to help prevent them from becoming ill with the disease. When the bacteria spread into the blood stream, they can cause a serious illness bacteremia which is also life threatening.
Meningitis begins after the bacteria reaches the central nervous system.
Understanding the characteristic symptoms of the disease is critical and possibly lifesaving. Common early symptoms of meningococcal meningitis include fever, severe sudden headache and neck stiffness. A rash may begin as a flat, red eruption, mainly on the arms and legs. It may then evolve into a rash of small purple-black dots. Meningococcal disease can be mistaken for other health problems.