Meningitis Cases Keep Schools Closed

LEXINGTON, Va. — Schools in a half-dozen areas in Virginia and Tennessee remained closed Tuesday because of an outbreak of spinal meningitis, authorities said.

Three cases of meningitis and two episodes of a related bacterial infection forced the precautionary closing of schools Monday in Lexington, Buena Vista and Rockbridge County in Virginia.

In Tennessee, schools were closed in Sequatchie, Bledsoe and Marion counties after a 13-year-old boy was diagnosed as having contagious meningitis, officials said. Allison McGee, 6, died in Sequatchie County Saturday, and health officials were conducting tests to determine whether meningitis caused her death.