BILOXI, Miss. (AP) — Superintendent Paul Tisdale says parents are being notified about a Biloxi High School student’s recent viral meningitis diagnosis.

Tisdale said the student’s mother said her child was diagnosed this past weekend. The disease is serious but rarely fatal. Tisdale said school officials are notifying parents “before any rumors get started or this incident is blown out of proportion.”

Tisdale said Dr. Robert Travnicek, the local public health official, also has been notified.

Tisdale said he’s been informed by health officials that viral meningitis is most often spread by shaking hands with an infected person or touching something the person has handled and then rubbing the nose or mouth. He said there is no specific treatment for viral meningitis, and most patients completely recover on their own.