BOSTON -- The mayor of Marlborough, Mass., confirmed Thursday that a teacher's aide at a local elementary school was hospitalized this week with bacterial meningitis.

Mayor Nancy Steven's office said the family of the unidentified teacher's aide told the Richer Elementary School on Foley Road that the aide was hospitalized on Tuesday. She was said to be showing signs of improvement, according to the mayor's office.

The aide worked closely with three students at the school and their families were also notified. Letters were sent home to parents, and state and local health officials were notified.

A 7-year-old girl identified as Galilea Estevez, who was a pupil at the Shaughnessy Elementary School in Lowell, Mass., died earlier this week after being hospitalized with bacterial meningitis.

Antibiotics have been given to about 100 first-graders and other children who rode the bus with the child.

The girl was the first child under the age of 12 to die of bacterial meningitis in Massachusetts since 2003. There were 29 reported cases of the illness last year, and three of those patients died, according to the Department of Public Health.

Symptoms of meningitis, including headaches, high fever, stiff neck and fatigue, can appear very quickly.