The student health center at UC Davis is recommending for the first time that all freshmen who will live in residence halls be vaccinated for meningococcal meningitis. And postcards encouraging students to talk with their doctor about the vaccination are being mailed this week to thousands of freshmen intending to register this fall at the campus.

The recommendation follows consideration of a recently published study that found freshmen living in dormitories are about 3.5 times more likely than nonstudents ages 18 to 23 to contract the rare -- but potentially fatal -- bacterial infection, in part because they live in close contact. Freshmen in dormitories contracted 5.1 cases of meningococcal meningitis per 100,000 population and the nonstudents ages 18 to 23, 1.4 cases per 100,000.

There have been no cases of meningitis in the residence halls at UC Davis in the last 10 years, and no student case reported to the student health center in the last two years.

The study, published this month in the Journal of the American Medical Association, influenced the center's medical staff to go beyond its former position of encouraging students to inform themselves about the disease and make their own decision about vaccination.

"Meningitis is still a relatively rare disease," says Dr. Michelle Famula, director of the Cowell Student Health Center. "But we were persuaded by the study's findings that the vaccine could substantially decrease the risk for freshmen in our residence halls."

Famula emphasizes, however, that the student health center is recommending, not requiring, vaccination.

The study, led by a doctor from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, identified 96 U.S. college students ages 18 to 23 who had meningococcal disease between September 1998 and August 1999. Of the 79 patients for whom information was available, 68 percent had infections that might have been prevented through vaccination, according to the study.

The vaccine, available through the student health center, is 85 percent to 95 percent effective against the four bacterial strains that cause 70 percent of meningococcal disease in the United States, and it provides its protection for three to five years. However, it does not prevent infection from the fifth bacterial strain of meningococcal disease.

Famula says students also can reduce their risk of contracting the upper respiratory infection through proper hygiene: for example, following good hand-washing practices and avoiding the sharing of drinking glasses, eating utensils or cigarettes.

Symptoms for both the bacterial and viral forms of meningitis, which affects membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord, include headache, fever, stiffness in the neck, vomiting and eyes sensitive to light. Serious complications of the disease can cause death within just a few days, so individuals who experience these symptoms should seek immediate medical attention.