Three children have been admitted to York District Hospital with meningitis in as many weeks, North Yorkshire Health Authority said today.

All three youngsters are said to be recovering from their illnesses, in each case caused by meningococcal meningitis.

And a spokeswoman for the health authority told the Evening Press that parents should not be fearful of an epidemic.

"All three children were from separate geographical areas and there had not been any contact between them," said the spokeswoman.

"Because there is no link between the children, each of their cases can be described as isolated and it is not an epidemic.

"All the children are making good progress and recovering well."

The health authority's admission came after York mum Leanne Daniels criticised it for saying that a recent case of meningitis is 'isolated'.

Leanne said parents needed to be warned so they could be on the look out for symptoms.

Leanne, whose 10-month-old daughter Shannon contracted the killer virus on June 27, said she was horrified to see Dr Phil Kirkby, consultant in public health medicine for North Yorkshire Health Authority, describe a recent case as isolated.

She said she had heard of several children having been admitted to York District Hospital since Shannon was there.

"I don't think the recent report in the Evening Press about the four-year-old girl with meningitis can be said to be an isolated case," she said.

"Parents need to be warned if there are a few cases of meningitis so they can look out for the signs and act quickly.

"I didn't know what was wrong with Shannon until we got to the hospital and it's important to get treatment straight away."

See WEBSITE Meningitis Research Foundation

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