(adds details) VOLGOGRAD, October 29 (RIA Novosti) - The number of children hospitalized with possible intestinal infection in Volgograd has reached 87, Yevgeny Anishchenko, chairman of the regional Public Health Committee, said at a news conference Saturday.
The children were hospitalized in good to stable condition at city Hospital No. 1, with Hospital No. 21 on standby to receive more patients if necessary, he said.
Doctors do not rule out that their number could increase. All children go to a school in the city's Sovetsky district.
Fifty children were taken to the hospital last night. They said they had had salad and pilaf at the school canteen.
Doctors said it was a case of food poisoning, but the final diagnosis would be made in two days.
Anishchenko said a total of 197 children, who had taken meals at the school canteen on Friday, were under observation.
The canteen was sealed off with prosecutors and sanitary and epidemiological officials working on the scene.
The health official said there were no problems with drugs or medical equipment.
