A teenager died of cerebrospinal meningitis in an outbreak of the disease at a senior high school in Hunan Province late last year.

The grade 11 student at a school in Qidong County began suffering headaches, fever and kidney failure on December 10.

The boy surnamed He died two days later and was confirmed to be infected with epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis, said an official with the provincial disease prevention and control center yesterday.

Three other students at the school complained of similar symptoms over the next few days and were sent to hospital, where they were confirmed to have the disease.

They are now out of danger and receiving treatment in a hospital in Hengyang City, said Jian Xuewu, chief of the disease prevention and control department of the Hunan Provincial Health Bureau.

The students suffered from C-type epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis, which spreads relatively easily and quickly and has a higher death rate than A-type, which prevailed in the province in the 1960s, said Jian.

He was the first reported case of C-type epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis in the province.