The chances of anyone contracting meningococcal disease — the cause of one type of bacterial meningitis — are fairly slim.

Yet once someone is infected with this disease, the odds of dying from meningococcal meningitis or sepsis are too high to take lightly. And the risk of contracting the disease is considerably reduced with vaccination.

Meningitis is an inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord, while sepsis is an infection of the blood. They are the two most common forms of illness resulting from meningococcal disease. Both are spread through bacteria in saliva or direct, close exposure to nose and mouth secretions from sneezing and coughing.

Families of three local hockey players found out just how serious the disease is when the players developed meningococcal sepsis after being exposed to the bacteria at a game in June, according to the Larimer County Department of Health and Environment. The disease took two of those players’ lives, while the third was hospitalized for several weeks. A Colorado State University student who became ill a couple of weeks earlier survived but remains in rehabilitation.

A fifth diagnosed case was probably unrelated and caused by a different strain of bacteria not preventable by vaccination, according to Dr. Adrienne LeBailly, director of the health department.

One to three cases of meningococcal disease occur in Larimer County each year, but they are usually sporadic and don’t occur in clusters. While the recent outbreak is unusual and tragic, it is a reminder of the importance of vaccination.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and many other health organizations recommend the vaccine for adolescents entering middle school (age 11-12) and for college students, particularly freshmen living in dormitories. All military recruits also receive it.

According to the American College Health Association, adolescents and young adults account for nearly 30 percent of all cases of meningitis in the U.S. Approximately 125 cases of meningococcal disease occur on college campuses each year, killing as many as 15 students. Evidence shows that approximately 80 percent of cases in the college-age group are potentially vaccine-preventable.

State law requires information packets for all incoming college freshman to have a list of recommended and required vaccinations — including the one for meningococcal disease — before starting school, says Dr. Jane Higgins, infection control physician for the CSU Health Center.

Students must indicate that they know about the availability of the vaccine but decline to get it, she says.

LeBailly says the vaccine is recommended for children entering middle school because they are starting to engage in risky behavior, such as kissing, sharing beverages and cigarettes, and more.

College students are being thrust into new, close living conditions with many more people and are being introduced to unfamiliar bacteria to which their bodies have no immunity, Higgins says.

"It’s an interesting infection in that about 10 percent of the people carries the bacteria in their throat but they’re not sick from it," says Higgins.

But those people share the bacteria with someone who, for reasons yet unknown, does get sick, she says.

Many of the early symptoms of meningococcal disease are similar to common illnesses like the flu and cause a high fever, but a couple of symptoms should raise red flags. For meningitis, it’s a really stiff neck that makes it painful to bend the chin to the chest. For sepsis, it’s little red spots on the skin that turn into bruises, LeBailly says.

Usually the stiff neck occurs earlier in the progression of meningitis than the red spots/bruises in the sepsis form, she says. And by the time a person sees the red spots/bruises indicative of meningococcal sepsis, they are already seriously ill and need to seek immediate medical attention.

"As soon as you see that, that’s going to make a doctor think it might be meningococcal disease," she says. "It can happen surprisingly quickly — a matter of hours. Even if it’s treated early, you’re going to lose some people because this is such an aggressive illness."