A 19-year-old Virginia Tech student has been hospitalized and is in critical condition after being diagnosed with what may be a meningococcal infection, according to a VT News e-mail distributed to the student body.

There are no other known cases in the New River Health District, according to Jody Hershey, director of the New River Health District.

Meningococcal infections are difficult to spread, but do so through intimate, generally prolonged, and personal contact between two individuals.

Although up to 10 percent of the population carries the bacteria without risk of illness, infection can cause conditions such as meningitis, a potentially deadly swelling of the brain tissue. About one in 100,000 persons in the United States are affected.

More information can be found on the Virginia Department of Health’s information page at http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/Epidemiology/factsheets/Meningococcal.htm. Pk