1/12/99 4:02 p.m. EST CHICAGO (UPI) - Public health officials are warning people whose children were treated by a pediatrician who died from bacterial meningitis not to panic.

Dr. Margaret Georgis of Skokie died on Sunday but officials say it is highly unlikely she transmitted the disease to patients.

The 44-year-old pediatrician worked for Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago and had privileges at several other Chicago-area medical institutions.

Chicago Department of Health spokesman Tim Hadac said the form of bacterial meningitis that killed Georgis is rare and spread only through direct exchange of saliva or mucus, such as sharing a bottle or a drinking glass.

'The harmful bacteria lives in mucus and salvia,' Hadac told the Chicago Tribune. 'There is no significant risk. You'd have to have saliva-to-saliva contact to get it and the type of contact that a pediatrician has with her patients is not sufficiently close to put them at any sufficient risk.'

Still, public health officials plan to monitor patients treated recently by Georgis for symptoms of meningitis like a high fever and a stiff neck.

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