A Kansas University student who died this weekend, reportedly of meningitis, had not been on campus in recent weeks and did not contract the disease there, KU health officials said.

Haley Drown, a Leawood resident, died at a Kansas City area hospital of what a family member said was meningitis, according to Kansas City television reports.

Drown just completed her freshman year at KU and lived in Corbin Hall, university spokeswoman Erinn Barcomb-Peterson said.

Douglas Dechairo, director and chief of staff at KU’s Watkins Health Services, said he had been in contact with local health department officials but that the health department in Johnson County, where the student lived, was taking the lead on confirming the diagnosis and investigating whether others were exposed.

Move-out day for Corbin and other residence halls was May 15, so it’s been more than two weeks since the student was on campus, Dechairo said.

The incubation period for most meningitis cases is four days, or 10 days at the most, he said, so “it’s well past the incubation period.”

Barbara Mitchell, public information officer for the Johnson County Department of Health and Environment, said Monday afternoon she could not confirm information about the patient or the case. Mitchell said the department was awaiting test results and hoped to release more information Tuesday.

Meningitis is a disease caused by the inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, according to the CDC. There are several causes of meningitis, but bacterial is the most severe and can cause life-threatening infections.

The last case of a student with bacterial meningitis on the KU campus was that of Pearson Scholarship Hall resident Andy Marso in 2004, Dechairo said. KU implemented its meningitis policy the following year, and now requires all students living in campus housing to be vaccinated for meningitis.

Marso, who survived, although with damage to his limbs, recently released a book about his experience, “Worth the Pain: How Meningitis Nearly Killed Me — Then Changed My Life for the Better.”