Four students from Boyangzhen No. 1 Middle School in the city of Huazhou, south China's Guangdong Province, have been diagnosed with epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis and one of them died, the provincial disease prevention and control center said on Saturday.

The four students, all 13 years old, are classmates in the school. They successively suffered headache, fever and vomiting from December 14 to 20 and were then confirmed to be infectious with epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis, said Peng Guowen, an official with the center.

(Shanghai Daily December 25, 2006)