VACCINATION of all East Lancashire Muslim pilgrims will be discussed at the next meeting of the East Lancashire Health Authority.

Outbreaks of the W135 strain of meningitis in the past two years have been linked with the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

Those affected included returning travellers who had subsequent contact in local communities, including Blackburn mum Kausar Ali, who was 29 when she died only days after returning from the Hajj pilgrimage.

Last year a 34-year-old man from Blackburn was diagnosed with the disease but later made a full recovery and a second Blackburn woman, who was in her 50s, also received treatment for meningitis W135 after returning from Hajj.

The Saudi Arabian Embassy has already confirmed that evidence of a meningococcal vaccine will be a pre-requisite for pilgrims entering the country from 2001.

A strategy for vaccination will be formulated at the meeting and the move has the backing of the British Council of Mosques.

Rafique Malik, Burnley's deputy mayor and executive member of the Council of Mosques, said: "Vaccination is a welcome step because treating people before rather than after causes a lot less suffering and costs a lot less money." Coun Malik made the Hajj in 1997 with his family.

He said: "Luckily all my family and I didn't have any problems."

The next Hajj will take place towards the end of February, but thousands of Muslims from all over Britain will already be making travel arrangements and many will begin their journey in the next couple of weeks.

Concerns over biological and chemical releases, following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre in New York, have also been expressed by the East Lancs Health Authority.

Their communicable disease control team have been in consultation with the emergency services over possible releases and their approach to any threat will be detailed at the meeting in the ELA Headquarters in Nelson on Tuesday.