SKOWHEGAN – A 16-year-old Skowhegan Area High School girl who died suddenly early Friday was not killed by bacterial meningitis, the Maine Bureau of Health said.

Jodi Kinney of Canaan died of a bloodstream infection brought on by meningococcal disease, the Morning Sentinel of Waterville reported.

Meningococcus bacteria are common and do not present problems for 95 percent of those colonized by them, according to Geoff Beckett, chief of the Maine Bureau of Health’s infectious disease epidemiology section.

In a small portion of the population, the presence of the bacteria can lead to bacterial meningitis.

Preliminary tests had indicated that bacterial meningitis was the cause of Kinney’s death.

The disease is a serious infection that attacks the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms include the sudden onset of fever, intense headache, stiff neck and nausea.

Maine has about six to 12 cases a year, usually during winter, according to Dora Mills, director of the Maine Bureau of Health. Children and adolescents are most often affected, but the disease occasionally strikes the elderly.

“It’s parents’ worst nightmare,” Mills said. “Kids are usually fine, and then suddenly they get a little ill and within a few hours they may be dead.”