PHOENIX - Health officials at the UA say legislation requiring dorm residents to disclose whether they'd been treated for meningitis, a potentially fatal disease, would cost the school nearly $40,000, and do little to curb the disease's occurrence.

The only group that stands to benefit from the bill is Aventis Pasteur, the company that manufactures the vaccine and is a client of lobbyists pushing the bill, said Dr. Harry McDermott, director of UA Campus Health and Wellness Service.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Carolyn Allen, R- Scottsdale, would require the three state universities to distribute information on the risks associated with meningococcal disease, or bacterial meningitis, and the effectiveness and availability of vaccines for the disease, which the UA already does.

The bill would also require students living in dorms or off-campus university housing to be entered into a campus registry disclosing when and if they had been vaccinated against the bacteria-caused disease, which infects the brain and can cause death, mental retardation and loss of limbs.

The UA has not seen a case of the disease since 1997, when a student caught the disease but ultimately did not suffer serious harm. Nationally, the disease seems to be dwindling as well, McDermott said.

"What we're doing seems to be working - knock on wood - because we haven't seen a case since the one in 1997," McDermott said.

Arizona's bill would not mandate immunization for students living in residence halls, unlike Connecticut, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Florida, which require dorm students to be immunized, with some states allowing students to opt out by signing a waiver.

A cost analysis by Campus Health showed that it would cost from $30,000 to $40,000 in administrative costs to maintain the meningitis registry required in the bill, McDermott said.

"What we are doing seems to be working, so why change that?" McDermott said. "It doesn't cost us nearly as much the way we do it now."

Jim Van Arsdel, director of Residence Life, said he wasn't sure what costs his department might incur implementing the bill, or what its role would be in the registry.

"Right now, it is unclear whether it would (cost Residence Life money) or not because the legislation is unclear," Van Arsdel said.

Sen. Allen said that she was approached by Aventis earlier this year and asked to sponsor the bill. She said she is backing it solely out of concern for students' health.

"There should be some kind of notification," Allen said. "Apparently this is rampant on college campuses."

Allen said the bill was intended to ensure that students know about their heightened susceptibility to the disease and how to treat it. The bill is not a free advertisement for Aventis, who is the only licensed manufacturer of the bacterial meningitis vaccine.

"They won't be forced to take the vaccine or buy the vaccine made by that manufacturer," Allen said.

Allen said she had not been contacted by any of the universities about their financial concerns over the bill but said she would consider altering the language of the bill if it proved to be too costly for the schools.

Campus Health has been distributing information on the disease and its vaccinations in dorms since 1999, and began sending the pamphlets to every incoming freshman in 2002, McDermott said.

The disease peaked with 3,600 nationally reported cases in 1996 but has been dwindling ever since, with 1,595 cases reported in 2002, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Campus Health's current policy is in line with the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommendations for colleges, and has successfully curbed the disease's occurrence on campus, McDermott said.

The number of students seeking the vaccine through Campus Health has more than doubled since it began mailing out the information in 1997, McDermott said.

Bacterial meningitis is transmitted through oral contact and sharing items like toothbrushes that transmit oral fluids.

The CDC says that college freshmen are at a moderately increased risk for contracting the disease.