COLLEGE FRESHMAN AT RISK FOR `DORM ROOM DISEASE'

COLLEGE FRESHMAN AT RISK FOR `DORM ROOM DISEASE'

SWIFTWATER, Penn. (Wireless Flash) -- Higher education may mean a higher risk of disease, according to a new study. Infectious disease expert Dr. Frederick Ruben says college students living in crowded dorm rooms have a 9 to 23 times greater chance of contracting a meningococcal disease than other students. The "dorm room disease" is potentially life-threatening because it can easily be misdiagnosed and students often confuse the initial symptoms -- vomiting, headaches, lethargy, fever -- as nothing more than the flu or a hangover. Ruben doesn't know why college dormitories are hotbeds for the disease, but he suspects it may have something to do with the crowded conditions. Although vaccines are available to prevent the "dorm room disease," there are still about 300 deaths a year nationwide, including about 20 college students -- and Ruben says the numbers are on the rise.