A REVOLUTIONARY test for diagnosing meningitis will be considered for use in East Lancashire's hospitals if it can be proved it works, according to health bosses.

The new blood test has been developed by scientists at Cardiff University and the University of Wales College of Medicine and will be featured on the BBC1 programme Tomorrow's World at 7.30pm tonight.

Trials of the test, funded by the Meningitis Research Foundation, have indicated it could identify organisms causing meningococcal disease - meningitis and septicaemia - within 30 minutes.

Dr Robert Marshall, communicable disease consultant for East Lancashire Health Authority, said she would consider using the test if it can be shown to have advantages over traditional methods, once it had been through the proper quality control procedures.

At present tests for meningitis are carried out in the public health laboratories in Manchester.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.