Parents urged not to boycott school

No children turned up for classes at the 130-pupil school

Education officials are calling for parents of pupils at a south Wales school not to boycott classes after a dinner lady died from meningitis.

Parents from Ynysboeth infansts school at Abercynon attended an "emotional" meeting with health experts on Tuesday.

Children at the school in the Cynon Valley have been offered antibiotics after a four-year-old boy was treated for the disease.

Dinner lady Carol Morgan, 57, died less than 48 hours after falling ill with a headache and raging temperature.

Anxious parents kept their children home from the 130-pupil school on Monday after the cases of the disease were confirmed.

Pupils and staff will be offered antibiotics

Pupil Garreg Hughes is now recovering at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, from the B strain of the disease.

He is due to be moved from the high dependency unit to a normal ward later on Tuesday.

Bro Taf Health Authority is investigating whether there is a link between the cases.

As a precaution, health officials are offering antibiotics to pupils and staff at the school.

Parents were called to the meeting on Tuesday morning where they were given the latest advice and information.

Most parents are said to have taken up the offer of antibiotics for their children, but many are distressed that sons or daughters at the nearby junior school are not being offered the treatment as well.

Dr Mark Temple: Check for signs

"It was very emotional for the parents, staff and teachers at the school. They have lost a very close friend," said Dr Mark Temple, consultant in communicable disease control for Bro Taf Health Authority.

But he said evidence that extending the antibiotic treatment to the junior school would do any good was "non existent".

Dr Temple said meningitis is a "relatively rare" condition.

Third case

"Symptoms to look out for include fever, nausea and vomiting, stiff neck, back and joint pain, severe headache, sensitivity to light and sometimes a rash of tiny purple bruises," he said.

Bro Taf also confirmed that a third person in the area - thought to a young boy - had also contracted meningitis.

But officials said it was an isolated case and was not connected to Ynysboeth infant school.

Bro Taf Health Authority called an emergency Outbreak Control team meeting on Monday for all the doctors, nurses, council officers and school staff involved.

Too upset

A spokesman for Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council said letters had been sent out to parents to keep them informed.

The family of Carol Morgan have said they are too upset to talk.

A family friend said: "It's too early for us to say anything."