HEALTH officials came under fire today after they refused to offer meningitis vaccine to pupils at a high school where a teacher has been struck down with the disease.

The 42-year-old male teacher at Darwen Vale High is in Bury General Hospital after being diagnosed last week.

Parents of more than 1,000 pupils have been sent letters, but some are angry that the name of the teacher, who lives in Accrington, has not been revealed. They are also furious that public health experts are refusing to offer the new meningitis C vaccine to their children.

Denise Parsonage, of Whitendale Crescent, Blackburn, who has two children, Sarah, 12 and Stephen 13, said: "My daughter said she was worried that she would not be here to see Christmas.

"I rang the school and they told me that treatment - either antibiotics or the new vaccine - was not being offered to any of the children until there was another case. That case, if it happens, could be one of my children.

"Then I was told by the health authority that they were not willing to give my kids the new vaccine.

"The new vaccine is already being given to 15 and 17-year-olds who are said to be most at risk. I think it is only fair to offer it to pupils at a school where a teacher has got the disease. Other parents are extremely worried because the teacher would have been in daily contact with scores of children."

Darwen Vale headteacher Lynn Dunning refused to comment, but a spokesman for Blackburn with Darwen Council said there was no need for parents to panic. He refused to identify the teacher.

Dr Roberta Marshall, East Lancashire's consultant in communicable disease control, said: "When there has been a single case at a school there is no evidence that antibiotics will prevent further cases.

"The vaccine has already been given to fifth formers at Darwen Vale and the other children are due to receive it next summer. We don't know which strain the teacher has got and the vaccine will only protect against the C strain."

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