SCOTLAND is experiencing a ''steady rise'' in meningitis cases with current levels being the highest since 1975 when 324 people contracted the disease, Dr Ian Jones, director of the Glasgow-based Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health, said yesterday.
He conceded that experts could not account for the disease or its proliferation. ''We have considered various possibilities but can't come up with anything definitive.
''It comes and goes, varies according to the time of year and often follows an upsurge in influenza. We do know it is spread by close contact in confined spaces.''
The number of cases had increased by 25% both in 1997 and 1998. Statisticians have yet to confirm how many of the 318 instances reported last year proved fatal, although 12 of the 259 affected in 1997 died.
A second child suffering from meningitis has been transferred from Kirkcaldy's Victoria hospital to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh.
A three-month-old boy from central Fife taken there on Thursday night is said to be in a stable condition. However, a two-year-old east Fife girl, who was moved on Monday, remains critical.
A 22-year-old Fife man taken to the Kirkcaldy hospital five days ago with meningococcal infection, which can lead to full-blown meningitis, was improving, a spokesman said.
In addition, three Highland children are being treated for suspected meningococcal septicaemia at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness. A spokesman for Highland Health Board said that an eight-year-old boy, a seven-month-old boy and a girl aged 18 months were expected to be discharged soon.
The board yesterday ruled out meningitis as the cause of death of two children this week. The spokesman said Hannah MacDonald, 9, of Caithness, died of suspected pneumonia and an unnamed eight-year-old boy from Easter Ross died of another, as yet unidentified illness.
Meantime, an outbreak of meningitis at Poynton in Cheshire yesterday was partly attributed to festive season kissing.
A mass vaccination of up to 3000 young people aged between 11 and 21 began there following the death of Trevor Stockton, 16.
Dr Hilary Thurston, a locum consultant in communicable disease control based in Chester, said of the outbreak: ''I think what has made it worse is the Christmas period with partying and lots of people being in confined spaces and kissing a lot of people, with alcohol causing a lot more intimate contact than normal.''
Also in England, 6000 junior footballers were warned not to share water bottles during games this weekend for fear of meningitis being spread by saliva in drinks bottles.
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