MURFREEBORO, Tenn. - A Middle Tennessee State University student died Monday morning at a hospital in Nashville from what health officials said was a case of bacterial meningitis.
Officials from Vanderbilt University Medical Center said that 18-year-old Jacob Nunley died around 8 a.m. Monday. The hospital said that they are treating this as a possible case of meningitis and instructing everyone who may have come in direct, close contact with Nunley from September 2 to September 10 to contact a medical care professional.
Nunley was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and lived in the fraternity's house on Greek Row on the MTSU campus.
Students at MTSU were notified Monday of Nunley's death and were being given out antibiotics from the student health services as a precaution. The State Health Department has urged students who are concerned they may have been exposed to go to either the Rutherford County Health Department or Student Health Services to be seen by a doctor.
Officials with the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office said that Nunley had been arrested in that past few weeks for evading arrest and public intoxication. The Sheriff said that they are now taking precautions for all inmates and officers that might have been exposed to the disease.
Direct, close contact means coming in touch with discharges from the nose or throat. That could include kissing or being near Nunley when he sneezed or coughed. It could also include sharing drinking glasses, eating utensils or cigarettes.
Anyone with questions about meningitis was urged to call MTSU Student Health Services at 615-898-2988 or the Rutherford County Health Department at 615-898-7880.
A Facebook page has been set up called "Remembering Jacob Nunley" for friends to leave messages to Jacob's family.
No funeral arrangements have been announced.
For more information about Bacterial Meningitis visit http://www.cdc.gov/meningitis/bacterial.html.
(The Associated Press Contributed To This Report.)
