ROSTOV-ON-DON, October 4 (RIA Novosti) - A total of 83 children have fallen ill in a bout of mass food poisoning that has hit nurseries in Lermontov, a city in the Stavropol Territory, southern Russia, a local hospital said Thursday.

A total of 45 children have been hospitalized since Wednesday.

A local emergency situations commission will meet on Thursday to try to determine the reasons behind the latest incident of food poisoning, which is the fourth to hit the Stavropol Territory over the last three months. To date, over 500 people have been affected.