ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The Department of Health has confirmed a case of bacterial meningitis.
WFTV was contacted by a man in Oviedo who said his daughter is being treated for meningitis at Orlando Regional Medical Center.
Since Saturday, the 18-year-old has been under close watch at Orlando Regional Medical Center. She first went to the hospital with some of the common symtoms associated with bacterial meningitis.
"It does deteriorate the nervous system and so that's pretty much what it's targeting, the brain tissue, it's targeting things like that," said Dr. Swannie Jett, with the Department of Health.
Doctors said they don't know how the teen got the potentially deadly disease.
The teen hasn't been identified but she's a Seminole State College student and the school said its identified 15-20 people the patient has been in close contact with. None of those people are showing symptoms but they're being treated with antibiotics as a precaution.
The disease is only contracted through very close contact, according to health officials.
"Usually they share utensils, they ate from the same food, they drank a bottle of water together or they shared a cigarette," Jett said.
The student was last on campus on Wednesday with 14 students and a professor, all who have been notified. Officials said the teen's condition has improved but they can't say more.
"Over the last few years, more cases have been showing up for people entering into college," Jett said.
Since 2011, there have been four cases of bacterial meningitis in Orange and Seminole counties.