A Nova Scotia university is mourning the loss of one of its students to meningitis, the province’s second fatality from the illness in less than a week.

A first-year student at Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S. was found unconscious in her dorm on Saturday.

She was rushed to Valley Regional Hospital in nearby Kentville, where she died the next day.

“I have been in touch with the student's family and have expressed our deepest sympathy, but as you would expect the campus is in mourning,” said Ray Ivany, president of Acadia University.

On Monday, counsellors were on hand at the university campus to talk with students.

The victim was from Ontario.

Her identity has not been released at her family’s request.

Dr. Robert Strang, the province’s chief public health officer, said she was already in critical condition when she was admitted to hospital, and died despite being given antibiotics.

Doctors confirmed it was a case of bacterial meningitis.

“We are working to try to confirm what type of bacteria it might have been and what strain,” Strang said.

“Our primary concerns are working with public health and making sure students' anxieties and concerns are appeased and, additionally, they need emotional support right now,” said Callie Lathem, president of the Acadia Students’ Union.

Public health officials are investigating the death, but say the general student population is not at risk, because meningitis is difficult to contract.

Health officials have been talking to the student’s family and friends and will offer antibiotics and a vaccine to those who were in close contact with her leading up to her death.

Six people who came in contact with her had been administered antibiotics as of mid-day on Monday.

The death comes within less than a week since 16-year-old Rylee Sears, of Lower Sackville, N.S, died from the same bacterial disease.

While health officials continue to investigate what variation of the disease claimed the woman’s life, the death has sent shockwaves through the university campus.

“It would be nice if they find out the strain and let us know, because when you called they said the vaccination they give students in Grade 7 is different than the ones we would have gotten,” said Alee Wickins, a student at Acadia University.

Health officials are working to determine whether the two cases of meningitis — the symptoms of which include fever, headache, a purplish rash and a rapid progression of illness — are connected.

But the Strang says even with two confirmed cases of meningitis, the risk to the general public is not increased.

“I've been around in public health for a long time and sometimes a rare event is clustered together in time,” said Strang.

“It doesn't necessarily mean there are links between the two.”

With files from The Canadian Press and CTV Atlantic’s Kelland Sundahl