Meningococcal Cases Reported

An outbreak of potentially deadly meningococcal bacteria also has turned up at an Idaho Falls middle school.

The teenagers were being treated at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center with antibiotics as a precaution on Thursday.

The news came on the heels of two other Idaho residents being hospitalized as a result of meningitis.

Andy Moore, a 15-year-old Weippe, Idaho, boy remained in critical condition Thursday at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane. The Lewiston-Morning Tribune reported that his legs had to be amputated below the knees because of the disease.

A 19-year-old University of Idaho student also was diagnosed with the disease, which killed an Okanogan, Wash., man about a week ago.

Officials in southern Idaho are waiting for test results to confirm the presence of the bacteria in the three middle-school students, hospital spokeswoman Brenda Baumgartner said.

Those results should be available today.

, DataTimes