A second San Diego County college student is in the hospital suffering from meningococcal bacteria, an often severe illness that includes infections of the brain lining and spinal cord (meningitis) and blood stream infections, reports NBC 7 San Diego.

The unidentified patient is a student at Palomar College in San Marcos and was diagnosed on Oct. 19.

Because the student had limited contact with people on campus in the past few weeks, "the risk to individuals who have not had close contact with the infected individual is very low,” said Dean Sidelinger.

Over the weekend, San Diego State University freshman Sara Stelzer died after contracting Type B meningococcal meningitis.

Meningitis cases among SoCal college students grabbed headlines in 2013. At UC Santa Barbara, four students were diagnosed with the disease and one student even had to have the lower part of both his legs amputated. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and UC Riverside have also reported reported meningitis cases in the past.

College students are especially vulnerable to the life-threatening disease. They come from all over the world, live and gather in close quarters, their immune systems are usually stressed from lack of sleep, and some do not get vaccinated.

Some symptoms of meningitis include fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting and more.