NEW DELHI - The chief minister of India's Delhi state urged health officials to curb the spread of rare bacterial meningitis on Monday as the number of cases rose by 17 to 187.
Since the outbreak was first reported earlier this month, 15 people have died and hospitals have reported new cases almost daily, a New Delhi health ministry official said.
Chief minister Sheila Dixit called a meeting of health officials and municipal officers Monday to devise ways to stop the disease, which has spread from the heart of New Delhi to outlying suburbs.
Health secretary S.P Aggarwal told reporters after the meeting that "the biggest worry" was that 14 of the cases had come from the states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar, raising fears that it was spreading across the region.
"We have sent letters to the families of the patients telling them to take precautions," said Aggarwal.
"The chief medical officers of these states have been instructed to tell people who have come into contact with the patients to get antibiotics immediately to prevent the infection from spreading," he added.
Newspapers reported three deaths due to suspected meningitis in Noida township adjacent to New Delhi and another death in Chandigarh, the nearby capital of Punjab state.
Bacterial meningitis cases were first reported this month in Old Delhi, the heart and most congested part of the city of 14 million, but the disease has now been reported in all parts of the capital, a municipal health officer spokesman said.
Federal Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss told parliament Friday there was "no cause for alarm" and assured lawmakers that efforts were underway to check any further spread of the disease.
The bacteria which causes the disease infects the fluid surrounding the brain and the spinal cord. It is spread by direct contact with droplets from the nose and mouth of infected people.
Media reports said alarmed parents had stopped sending their children to school and were seeking vaccinations in large numbers.
Officials said all doctors and health workers treating the patients were being vaccinated as were the relatives of those infected.
Bacterial meningitis claimed 16 lives among 258 people affected in China earlier this year.
The disease was last reported in large numbers in India a decade ago.
05/09/2005 18:22 GMT