CHELYABINSK -- Physicians and parents in Russia's Chelyabinsk Oblast are concerned about the increasing number of cases of meningitis among children, RFE/RL's Russian service reports.
Officials of the local kindergartens refused to comment on the situation.
Overall, 222 cases of a particular type of meningitis were registered in the region this year, of which 192 cases were reported in June and July.
The majority of the cases involve children in the region's major industrial cities - Chelyabinsk and Magnitogorsk.
Svetlana Luchinina, deputy chief of the Regional Consumption Control Department, told RFE/RL that the disease usually occurs in cycles. According to her, the outbreak might strike every five years, as the number of children with lower immunity rises.
Local authorities have imposed quarantine on 20 kindergartens in the region.