ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) _ The Minnesota Department of Health is urging men who have sex with men to get vaccinated for meningococcal meningitis.

The alert comes after the recent death of a Ramsey County man who became infected with the disease. Officials say the man who died was in his 40s and was HIV positive. He carried the same bacteria that killed one man in Chicago and made six others sick.

Officials in Minnesota say the disease has also been found in clusters of gay men in Los Angeles and New York.

Kris Ehresmann is the health department’s director of infectious disease epidemiology. She says the disease is rare but serious. About 10 to 15 percent of cases are fatal.

Symptoms include fever, vomiting, headache, stiff neck and extreme sleepiness.