Three die from suspected plague in Himalayan foothills

Authorities have closed down schools and put paramedics on alert in the northern Himalayan foothills after three people died from what doctors say may be pneumonic plague.

Tests results on seven infected patients should be available tomorrow, a hospital spokeswoman said.

''It is contagious and symptoms are similar to pneumonia and plague,'' said Manju Wadwalkar, spokeswoman for the Postgraduate Institute Hospital in Chandigarh, capital of Punjab.

The disease broke out early in the week in a village in Rohru district of neighbouring Himachal Pradesh state.

Panicked residents have been buying preventive doses of antibiotics in Rohru, and state authorities warned people to stay in their homes for the next five to seven days.

Experts from the National Institution for Communicable Diseases have reached Rohru, nearly 220 miles north of New Delhi.