A second-grade student at Saegert Elementary School, Killeen has died from bacterial meningitis.

According to the Texas Department of State Health Services the student who died reportedly had pneumococcal meningitis which is typically more common and less severe than meningococcal meningitis, which is caused by a different bacteria.

The state health department said, “131 people in Texas died from pneumococcal infections in 2017, the most recent year it has records for. The number included meningitis and blood infections.”

Children are typically vaccinated against pneumococcal meningitis at 2, 4, 6 and around 12 months of age but they do not have to have the vaccines to enter public school. The meningococcal meningitis vaccine is required for students in Texas in the seventh through twelfth grades.

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