A link between meningitis and cigarettes has been established by campaigners trying to stop teenagers from smoking.

Wendy Fidler, of Oxash, said smokers and passive smokers were at greater risk of catching the bug - which has killed one person and affected 24 others in Oxford since December - if they were in a smokey environment.

One person has died and three other people have contracted meningitis in the latest outbreak in Oxford.

There have been a total of 25 suspected victims since December. Staff at the John Radcliffe Hospital have been inundated with people worried they may be displaying symptoms similar to the disease.

There have been four cases of meningitis among students who typically relax in environments that make them more prone to the disease.

Mrs Fidler said smoke from cigarettes paralyses tiny hairs inside the windpipe that are designed to filter out infections before they reach the lungs and bloodstream.

Mrs Fidler was speaking during National No-Smoking Day yesterday, when a giant cigarette was stubbed out at Temple Cowley Swimming Pool, Oxford.

This year's campaign logo is a cigarette diving into a pool of water, with the words 'Take the Plunge'. Sian Griffiths, the Public Health Director at Oxford- shire Health Authority, wants to reduce the number of young women who smoke.

Nationally one in three women between 18 and 24 take up smoking.

Dr Griffiths believes this is due to images of thin models like Kate Moss posing with a cigarette, which gives the impression that smoking is both 'cool' and a cure for weight problems too.

Story date: Thursday 11 March

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.