BOSTON - Nick Springer lifted himself from his wheelchair into a witness' chair Wednesday and asked lawmakers to begin a public health campaign against bacterial meningitis.

"This disease is definitely a deadly disease," said Springer, 18, of Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y. "I consider myself lucky, at the cost of losing my limbs, but still I consider myself lucky." Bacterial meningitis, rare and deadly, affects about 3,000 people in the US every year. About 10 percent of cases are fatal within hours and about 10 percent of those who survive experience severe disabilities, such as limb amputations, mental retardation and organ damage.

The bacteria spread through saliva, by coughing, kissing or sharing cups and utensils. They can quickly enter the bloodstream and invade the lining around the brain - called the meninges. Health experts consider teenagers and college students at increased risk for the disease, particularly college freshman living in dormitories.

The American College Health Association recommends freshmen who want to reduce their risk for meningococcal disease be vaccinated. The vaccine is considered safe, 85 to 95 percent effective, and lasts three to five years.

Springer contracted meningitis in 1999 after sharing a water bottle with his counselor at a summer camp in the Berkshires. He began to feel nauseous and ill, and then his organs shut down and he collapsed. Like many survivors, he lost parts of his arms and legs after bacteria entered his blood and destroyed tissue. But Springer told members of the Legislature's Health Care Committee that his situation could have been worse if a passerby had not recognized purple blotches on his skin as a hallmark of the disease.

"I had to learn how to walk, I had to learn how to do simple tasks, I had to learn how to eat by myself," he said. "But the pain I went through can't compare to the pain families went through when their children died from this disease."

Steven Duarte told lawmakers of the grief and guilt he felt after his daughter Melissa, a high school student in Rochester, died suddenly of bacterial meningitis in 1996. She was 17.

"It's been seven years since," Duarte said, "and I say to myself, if I had taken my kid to the hospital the night before, would she still be alive today?"

Lawmakers are weighing bills that would require college students to receive the meningitis vaccine, and mandate disclosure of information about the disease and the vaccine to parents with a child enrolled in school, day care or camp.

Twenty-two states have enacted vaccination or education laws, and nine states have passed laws requiring vaccines for college students, with waivers available, according to the National Meningitis Association. Two states now have bills on their governor's desks and seven, like Massachusetts, are just beginning to consider new measures to combat the bacteria.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health says about 50 to 100 people contract bacterial meningitis in the state every year. There were 43 cases and four deaths in 2002, and 19 cases and one death as of May 2003, department spokeswoman Roseanne Pawelec said. The death was earlier this month - a preschool teacher in Swampscott.