Patna, Feb. 16 :    Patna, Feb. 16:  Union health minister C.P. Thakur today said symptoms of the mystery disease that has broken out in Himachal Pradesh indicated pneumonic plague, but there could be no confirmation till pathology reports come in. 'I can confirm absolutely when the pathology test reports are made available,' he said in Patna. Thakur said the symptoms were so clear that any examining doctor would first think of plague. Initial medical tests have detected bacteria in blood samples, while patients have been admitted with swollen throats, lung infections and high fever. Panic gripped Himachal after three persons died and 14 were hospitalised, reviving memories of the 1994 outbreak that killed more than 50 people in Gujarat. The first to fall ill was Randhir Singh, a villager in Shimla district, who died on February 4. His wife, Sulochana, who was brought to Chandigarh's Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, died last Thursday. The third person was from Uttaranchal. Officials in Himachal said hundreds were lining up outside medical centres to collect antibiotics in Rohru and Jubbal, some 100 km east of Shimla. 'The situation is constantly being monitored and over 1,70,000 capsules have been distributed in the affected areas so far,' state health minister J.P. Nadda said. A senior health official in Delhi said two villages in the region have been quarantined. 'Blood samples have been given for biochemical examination and it will take 48 hours to confirm whether it is plague or not,' the official said. Authorities have closed schools and colleges in the area and asked government doctors not to go on leave. Doctors said there have been no fresh cases since Friday and the condition of those admitted in the Chandigarh institute was improving. 'We are hoping to keep the outbreak under check. A five-day dose of antibiotic (Doxycycline) has been given to the patients, as well as likely victims. But we have to keep our fingers crossed,' Thakur said. 'A drive to catch rats has also been launched,' said a doctor. The plague is caused by the bacteria yersinia pestis and spread by fleas carried by rodents.