A MIDDLE-AGED woman who contracted meningitis is still seriously ill in hospital.

Hope hospital described the woman's condition today as "poorly but stable".

The woman, believed to live on the Salford/Bolton border, was the second meningitis victim in the area in a week.

Last week 37-year-old Fred Palmer of Harrowby Street, Farnworth died after catching the deadly disease but doctors say there is nothing to link the two cases.

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