AN ELEVEN-month-old baby is fighting for his life in hospital after being struck down by a mystery illness.

Kristianne Kerr, 20, is keeping a bedside vigil by her son Zack, who was taken into hospital with what she suspected was meningitis.

But almost two weeks later Zack is still not said to be improving and was due to be transferred to the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, Pendlebury, today.

This is the second tragedy for the family as Zack's grandmother Gillian Howorth lost her own baby in 1988 after she lived only eight hours.

Zack was admitted into Burnley General Hospital when Kristianne, of Hardman Avenue, Rawtenstall, noticed a rash all over his body. He was also very lethargic and had a high temperature.

Grandmother Gillian, of Broadfield Road, Accrington, said: "At first they thought it was measles but he was put on to a drip because he couldn't swallow properly. He was then taken into intensive care because he was having difficulty breathing. "We thought it was meningitis but we were told he was too poorly to do a lumbar puncture test to confirm this.

"Then my daughter rang me up in a real state to say he had stopped breathing."

Zack was put on a ventilator but the family were given new hope a week later when he opened his eyes and the ventilator was removed.

But he began having fits and his breathing stopped again. He was given a CT scan and prepared for transfer to Manchester.

"We still don't know what it is," Gillian added. "We are trying to keep an open mind.

"I lost my own daughter Jade when she was only hours old and you don't think anything like this can happen twice in one family.

"My daughter is staying with him at the hospital. She is absolutely distraught."

Zack's doctor at Burnley General Hospital said he could not comment on Zack's condition.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.