A BUSINESSMAN from the Ribble Valley is fighting for his life after being struck down with suspected meningitis during a Caribbean holiday.

The 53-year-old from Hurst Green is in the intensive care unit at Blackburn Infirmary where his condition today was "critical."

It was also revealed that a three-month-old boy from Church was being treated at the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, Pendlebury, for meningitis. Doctors have diagnosed that the baby is suffering from the group B strain of the brain bug.

The businessman, who runs a company in Darwen, contracted the illness during a holiday to the Dominican Republic, from where he was flown home.

He is the second East Lancashire person to be struck down by the disease during a holiday abroad, the first being two-year-old Chelsea Baldwin, of Barley Bank Street, Darwen, who fell ill during a millennium break with mum Michelle.

Today Dr Roberta Marshall, East Lancashire's consultant in communicable disease control, urged people planning a holiday abroad not to panic. She said: "I think the cases in Spain and the Dominican Republic are probably an unfortunate coincidence. There is no increased risk of catching the disease in either of those countries.

"The Dominican Republic is a relatively new holiday destination and it is the sort of place where people will stay in sheltered resorts on all-inclusive packages.

"There are many other parts of the world where travellers would be far more at risk, including Nepal, parts of the Indian sub-continent and Saudi Arabia.

"We always recommend that people travelling to those places are immunised against meningitis before they travel with the A and C vaccine. The A strain is very rare in this country but is the most common strain abroad."

She said the baby was in a "stable and comfortable" condition in hospital. He was originally taken to Blackburn Infirmary before being transferred to Pendlebury.

The Lancashire Evening Telegraph meningitis helpline number is 0990 446644. Enter selection 8219.

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