URBANA — The Champaign County coroner said a sixth-grade student at Paxton-Buckley-Loda Junior High School appears to have died from a blood infection called Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome, a highly contagious disease commonly caused by the bacterium Neisseria meningitidis.

“It’s not H1N1; it’s not meningitis,” Coroner Duane Northrup said Thursday afternoon, noting, though, that the disease is similar to meningitis.

Northrup said an autopsy performed Tuesday evening revealed that 11-year-old Natalie Johnson died from the disease, “but we’re still waiting on confirmation from the state department of public health,” which has been given blood samples.

“It will probably be Monday before we have any definite results,” he said.

Ford-Iroquois Public Health Department officials said in a press relesae that “some preliminary lab results were received” at 4:15 p.m. Thursday but were inconclusive.

“Testing is still under way,” the release said.  “At this time no definitive results have materialized.  Additional lab results are expected in the near future and will help provide a conclusive diagnosis.”

Preventive medication was provided to Natalie’s family, “in case certain things come out through the autopsy,” said Julie Clark, spokesman for the Ford-Iroquois Public Health Department, on Wednesday. Preventive medication is not being given to students at PBL Junior High School, Clark had said, but she said the health department is “doing some research as far as what students sat around her and maybe had close contact with her.”

“The Ford-Iroquois Public Health Department is still investigating this case and is continuing their work with the school district,” Thursday’s press release said. “Standard safety measures are in place, and parents are encouraged to send their children to school.”

Clark said Thursday that since the lab results have not confirmed a communicable disease, the health department has not determined that a serious community health concern exists.

Meanwhile, the health department continues to encourage parents of children who possibly had been in contact with Natalie Johnson in recent days to seek medical attention immediately and to call the health department if their children display any flu-like symptoms or high fevers.

Clark said the health department has been flooded with calls from concerned parents.

“We’ve been having people call before we even told the media to have people call,” Clark said.

The onset of the disease is associated with fever, rigors, vomiting, and headache.

Natalie died Tuesday after being taken to Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana. She had been experiencing flu-like symptoms, including a fever, Clark said.

PBL Superintendent Cliff McClure said Wednesday that the school district continues to monitor symptoms of students and be “very vigilant” in its efforts to limit the spread of diseases within its four schools, through stressing “the three Cs” — clean, cover, contain — to students and staff.

McClure said Thursday the school district is awaiting direction from the health department on whether to take additional safety measures.

The school district continues to provide grief counseling to students and staff and will continue to do so as long as it is needed, McClure said.

Funeral services for Natalie, a Loda resident, are scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at the Evangelical Covenant Church, Paxton. Visitation is Friday from 4 to 8 p.m. at Baier Family Funeral Services, 406 E. Pells St., Paxton.