TWO Hampshire victims of variant CJD were given polio vaccinations from the same batch, according to shock new research by a Southampton doctor published today.

But senior medical figures have denied a direct link between the vaccine injections in 1994 and the development of the fatal disease. The names of the victims at the centre of a frenzy of medical speculation are being kept confidential, but the Daily Echo has learned that one had lived in Southampton, and the other Eastleigh. The type of vaccine administered to the tragic pair was withdrawn in 2000.

A Southampton medical team, led by Dr Mike Barker, has been studying five local cases of variant CJD (Creuzfeldt-Jakob disease). In two cases, both in Eastleigh, the individual was born and brought up in the immediate area.

Two other cases, in Southampton, affected people from other areas who had lived in the city for short periods. In both these cases, the onset of CJD did not occur until the person had left the area.

Scientists from the National CJD Surveillance Unit (NCJDSU) have fully investigated a fifth case and do not believe that there is any link with the other Hampshire cases.

Dr Barker, Consultant in Communicable Disease Control, has been co-ordinating efforts between the Health Authority, NCJDSU, council departments and other specialists to identify possible reasons for the cases and any evidence to link them.

He said: "We have been investigating the two cases in Eastleigh because of their close geographical proximity. The two Southampton cases were born and brought up elsewhere and came to this area for higher education. They moved away before they developed their illness. Nevertheless it makes sense to look for possible common causes and connections between them."

Student, Kate Richer, 22, who hailed from The Isle of Wight, died in March this year after being diagnosed with CJD in July 2000. She had started to feel unwell shortly after starting her course at Glasgow University in the autumn of 1999.

Keen footballer and surfer Steve Babey, of Loughwood Close, Eastleigh died in May 2001 just five months after being diagnosed with new variant CJD.

And in another tragic case, former Hedge End resident Pamela Bayless died in 1998 just two days before her 24th birthday. She had moved back to her family home in Leicestershire in 1996 when she started to show the first physical symptoms of variant CJD.

The full results of Dr Barker's investigations are due to be published in February 2002, and the Health Authority will be reporting to the National Steering Committee that is collating the results from similar research elsewhere in the UK.