AUGUSTA - The end of the school year could help slow the spread of a viral meningitis outbreak in several east Georgia counties, health officials said.
   Twenty-two new cases of viral meningitis were reported in the area in the last week, most of them in Richmond County, said Donna Scott, a public health nurse coordinator for the health department.
   At least 80 people, mostly young children, have been diagnosed with the disease.
   ''It will have a big spike (of cases) and then it will just peter out,'' said Keith Woeltje, an epidemiologist at the Medical College of Georgia.
   Viral meningitis is an illness that causes the inflammation of the tissues that cover the brain and spinal cord. It is rarely fatal, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
   The disease is common in summer months and lasts about 10 days with symptoms that include fever, headache and excessive sensitivity to light. There is no treatment for it.
   - Associated Press