FARGO - More than 100 children at a day care center here are being treated as a precaution after one of its workers died from a form of meningitis.

Preliminary tests show the woman died from meningococcal meningitis, which is not highly contagious and is rarely fatal, said Fargo Cass Public Health Officer John Baird.

"We're just making this announcement so others are aware of her death and can be protected if needed," Baird said.

The name of the woman was not released. She died Wednesday at the Innovis hospital in Fargo.

Baird said the disease is spread by close contact, such as sharing drinks or kissing. It's easily treated if diagnosed, he said.

"Most people who contract the disease will not die. Most of them will not become ill," Baird said. "But we wanted people to know about this in case there was any concern."

Parents of children at the Here We Grow Child Care Center are being notified in person, said Mary Kay Herrmann, director of Fargo Cass Public Health.

"We'll be working with the day care to get antibiotics out to all the children," Herrmann said. "We're concerned that they get treated and we get to them."

An average of two meningococcal meningitis cases per year have been reported in North Dakota since 2000, said Kirby Krueger, state Health Department disease specialist.

"It is a rare occurrence," Krueger said.

Symptoms of the disease include fever, headache, vomiting, a stiff neck and a rash.

The woman apparently died quickly after getting sick, Baird said.

"I think she first started having a few things show up a couple of days before her death," Baird said. "My understanding was she came to the hospital the day she died."

The woman, believed to be in her early 20s, attended a country music festival in Detroit Lakes, Minn., last weekend, Baird said. Health care officials are notifying people who camped with her so they can be checked out by a doctor.

"There are some friends who showed up at the walk-in clinic … that were with her at the 'We Fest'," Herrmann said.