Oak Lawn middle school student has with meningitis

School officials in Oak Lawn say a middle school student has been hospitalized with bacterial meningitis.

Superintendent Kathleen McCord of Oak Lawn-Homewood School District 123 says the student, who was diagnosed Thursday, attends Oak Lawn Hometown Middle School.

McCord says district officials immediately notified parents about the student's illness.

According to the letter to parents, the student's infection is caused by meningococcus, a bacterium that can cause meningitis. Meningitis is an inflammation of the tissues covering the brain and spinal cord.

District officials say the disease is not highly contagious and not transmitted by routine classroom contact. The disease is spread by direct contact with saliva or less commonly when an infected person sneezes or coughs into someone's face.