A KEBAB shop agreed to close last night while health experts probe a possible link with the Newport outbreak of typhoid fever.

Sam's Kebab Shop in Commercial Road, Pill, will remain closed until further notice as three teenagers with the disease continue to recover in hospital.

But a Newport council spokeswoman last night stressed the decision by its environmental health officers to ask the takeaway to close was simply "precautionary" and done with the agreement of the owners.

The spokeswoman said: "Following an investigation by our environmental health officers a food outlet, Sam's Kebab Shop, has voluntarily agreed to close while this particular investigation into the source of three cases of typhoid in Newport continues.

"Environmental health offices emphasise that this action was taken as a precautionary measure and other investigations will still be continuing.

"The decision to ask the takeaway to close was taken after investigations showed that there is a possible link between the three confirmed cases of typhoid fever and the food outlet."

Environmental health officers also praised the kebab shop owners for their "full co-operation".

The events follow our exclusive story yesterday that the hunt for the source of the outbreak was concentrating on food outlets.

Meanwhile, the three unrelated typhoid victims being treated at Newport's Royal Gwent Hospital could be allowed home in the next few days.

The three teenagers - two girls and a boy - from the Pill area of the town are reported to be responding well to treatment and expected to make a full recovery.

One of the victims is Anne Marie Hughes, aged 13, who lives in Dolphin Street. It is understood she had been ill for around three weeks with a fever but had been diagnosed only on Monday night.

The teenager's grandmother, who lives in the same street, said her daughter, Anne Marie's mother, was at the hospital bedside, and the family did not wish to comment further.