Sapa reported that city manager Achmat Ebrahim said the city had been told by the State pathologist’s office that the death was being attributed to meningococcal meningitis, an inflammation of the membranes around the brain.
The estimated time of death was late Monday afternoon or early evening.
Ebrahim said this was a notifiable disease, and the city health department would follow up on contacts and prophylaxis.
Acting city health director Dr Ivan Bromfield said meningococcal meningitis was caused by a bacterium which many people carried in their nasal passages without any ill effects.
In a very small minority of cases the organism might cause meningitis.
Symptoms included sudden fever, intense headache, nausea, vomiting, stiff neck and a fine pink rash.
