A YOUNG girl from Hyndburn has become the latest person to be struck down by suspected meningitis.

Health officials confirmed that she was the 11th East Lancashire person thought to have been hit by the deadly brain bug in the past three weeks.

Dr Roberta Marshall, consultant in communicable disease control for East Lancashire Health Authority, said laboratory tests had confirmed that five of the 11 cases were definitely meningitis although none was linked.

In this latest case, the health authority was waiting for laboratory tests to confirm whether it was meningitis.

Public health experts have put parents on red alert after the surge in meningitis cases and warned them to seek immediate medical help if their children started to show symptoms of the disease.

The Lancashire Evening Telegraph's meningitis helpline is 0990 446644. Enter selection 8219.

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