Child attending Alpharetta day care center dies of meningitis

ALPHARETTA - Several children attending a day care center are taking antibiotics after a child who attended the center died from meningitis.

The children at the Knowledge Beginnings center began taking the antibiotics Monday as a precaution. No public health alert has been issued because health officials say the risk of exposure to others is low.

A boy who attended the day care center died Saturday at a hospital, said April Majors, a spokeswoman for the Fulton County Health Department. The child's name and age have not been released.

Bacterial meningitis is an infection of the layers of tissue covering the brain and spinal cord. Older children and adolescents with the illness usually experience a few days of increasing fever, headache, confusion and a stiff neck. Other symptoms include sore throat and vomiting.

Everyone who might have come in contact with the child has been notified and referred to their private physician or a health center, Majors said.