One more patient of meningococcal meningitis died Wednesday, taking the toll in the outbreak to 18.

The death was reported from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS),
taking the casualties at the premier facility to three.

The total number of cases reported, including the dead, touched 250 with 36 new patients being registered.

Of these, 70 had been discharged from hospitals after treatment.

"We are hopeful of containing the outbreak in the next few days. It's a matter of time before we fully control the disease," said J.N. Banvaliker, director of hospital administration with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

Lt Governor B.L. Joshi had issued instructions to ensure supply of medicines and vaccines, he said.

"There is no shortage of medicines or vaccines. All hospitals are getting their quota," Banvaliker said.

The brain fever has spread to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan.

Rajasthan reported its first meningitis case Monday with a patient brought to a Jaipur hospital from Behror, 150 km away.

The health ministry and the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) were in touch with the health officers in these states on the guidelines to be followed.

Meningitis is an infection of the fluid in a person's spinal cord and that surrounding the brain. It is caused by the neisseria meningitis bacteria serotype A and spreads through droplet infection and close contact.

The first patient was reported April 22 at Hindu Rao Hospital.

This is the worst meningitis outbreak in the capital in two decades.

The last major outbreak of meningitis in India was in 1985, when 6,000 cases and
800 deaths were reported across the country.