MACOMB, Ill. (AP) -- The university on Monday said the 22-year-old student is being treated at a hospital near the campus in Macomb.

University health center Director Mary Margaret Harris says the disease is contagious but can only be transmitted through direct contact with the respiratory secretions from the infected person.

Symptoms of the sometimes-fatal illness are much like the flu. They include muscle aches, nausea, vomiting rash, diarrhea and a sore throat. Patients also can get stiff necks and severe headaches.

The university says that 100 to 125 cases of bacterial meningitis occur each year on college campuses around the country.