Italian pensioner admitted to hospital with meningitis

Genoa (Italy), Sep 12 (IANS/AKI) A 65-year-old Italian was hospitalised with meningitis on Tuesday in the northwest port city Genoa and was undergoing tests, doctors said.

The man is from Genoa and is believed to have a non-contagious form of meningitis. Doctors at the hospital have however alerted officials from the local health authority.

Italy has experienced a rash of meningitis cases since 2015, several of which have been fatal.

While Italian authorities have said there is no cause for alarm, Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin has urged the public to get vaccinated against the disease.

In April this year, a 19-year-old student from Britain died of suspected meningitis in the northern Italian town of Lodi. Two months earlier, a 49-year-old woman died of meningitis at Milan's san Raffaele Hospital in April and a seven-month-old girl was admitted to the city's Buzzi Hospital with the disease.

In January, a 25-year-old man died of meningitis in the northern Italian city of Turin and a four-year-old girl died in the southern city of Bari from suspected meningitis.

--IANS/AKI

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