Meningitis B outbreak latest: Strain behind several cases revealed after disease detected in three Kent schools

A University of Kent spokesman said on Monday it had received advice from the UKHSA and was communicating with students and staff.

He said there will be no face-to-face assessments or exams for students this week.

The UK Health Safety Agency has denied there was a delay in its response to the MenB outbreak in Kent after questions were raised about making a public announcement only on Sunday.

The agency’s Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam told BBC Radio 4’s Today program the first cases were detected on Saturday and the agency was working hard to identify close contacts and offer preventive antibiotics.

He said: “There has been absolutely no delay in responding to the outbreak, the first cases were reported on Saturday 14 March and cases of meningococcal disease, if present, are taken extremely seriously.”

He added that this was a “rapidly progressing epidemic” with other cases detected on Sunday making it “unusual”.

“I don’t believe there was any delay in the public health response,” he said.

My friend Antonia was 18 when she died overnight from bacterial meningitis during her first semester at Oxford University in October 2009. Seventeen years later, there is still not enough effort being made to inform students about the symptoms and dangers of the disease.

Two people, including a University of Kent student, have died and more than a dozen young people from the Canterbury region have been hospitalized following a meningitis outbreak in Kent this weekend.

Although many people are aware that meningitis mainly affects infants and children, college students are the second group most at risk for the disease. One in four people aged 15-19 will carry meningococcal bacteria in the back of their throat; This rate represents one tenth of the total population in the United Kingdom.

Unfortunately, student deaths due to meningitis are not uncommon.

Read Katy Fallon’s full article here:

The government should consider a “complementary” vaccination campaign for young people following a meningitis outbreak in Kent, a former health minister has said.

Helen Whately, the Conservative MP for Faversham and Mid Kent, told Times Radio that babies have been vaccinated against meningitis B since 2015, but those affected by the current outbreak “won’t be vaccinated that way as babies because they were born before that”.

He said: “So they have a vulnerability.

“And one of the things the Government (and) the UKHSA need to look at is whether there is a greater risk now with this pandemic and whether there will be some sort of vaccine catch-up for this group in the future.”

A Kent MP has questioned whether the UK Health Safety Agency (UKHSA) could have contacted the public sooner about the meningitis outbreak in the borough.

Asked if she had concerns about a “potential delay” in communications, former health minister Helen Whately told Times Radio: “Yes, I would like the UKHSA to come forward and explain the timetable there.

“I first heard about the epidemic on Sunday evening, finding out about it online, on Facebook, but apparently they actually knew about it before that.

“I did not receive an update until I contacted the Minister of Health first thing on Monday morning.

“I then had a briefing from UKHSA chief executive Susan Hopkins and we talked about the importance of reaching both school children and university students.

“But there is a question as to whether this could have been achieved more quickly if there had been more public engagement at an earlier time.”

Ms Whately, MP for Faversham and Mid Kent, said it was a “good step” that young people are now being given antibiotics and called for more communication with parents about whether it is safe for their children to go to school.

Meningitis is an infection of the meninges, the protective membrane that surrounds the brain and spinal cord.

Early warning signs of meningitis include high fever, headache, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain and stomach cramps.

As the disease develops, it can make people sleepy, irritable and confused, as well as cause severe muscle pain, pale, blotchy skin, spots or a rash, stiff neck, aversion to bright lights, convulsions or seizures.

Meningitis Now It urges people not to wait until someone develops a rash and to seek medical attention if someone is sick and showing these symptoms.

Club Chemistry owner Louise Jones-Roberts said more than 2,000 people would visit the venue over the three dates.

Visitors are now required to monitor antibiotics.

Ms Jones-Roberts said she believed the multiple cases were linked to mixing at the club and was “told they started showing symptoms on March 10”.

Ms Jones-Roberts said she managed to contact about 90 of the 95 staff at the club and they went to get antibiotics.

He added: “I am devastated for the families affected. This is incredibly sad.]

“I hope people know the symptoms and there will be no more lives lost.”

Stating that the club will remain closed until further notice, the Minister added: “It is not a difficult decision to close; we are talking about people’s lives.”

Ms Jones-Roberts later told the BBC that a nightclub worker was also one of the confirmed cases.

He said: “He is in hospital, receiving treatment and awaiting further tests to see if the treatment he received has improved his condition.

“We currently have two additional staff members in the Emergency Department with suspected meningitis and are awaiting an update on their test results.”

On campus on Monday, students, some wearing face masks, spoke of their concerns as they queued for antibiotics.

Matthew McDonagh, 16, and his brother Luca, 17, were at a party in Whitstable, Kent, on Saturday with a person diagnosed with the infection.

Another person in their friendship circle had already fallen into a coma after recently contracting meningitis.

Luca, who is in Year 13, said no one in his year at Simon Langton Grammar School was allowed to attend classes.

He and his brother, who attends the same school, were told to come to the University of Kent to receive antibiotics as a precaution.

Matthew said: “It’s pretty scary. It’s like I can’t believe it. It’s so crazy…

“This is absolutely incredible. I never thought this would happen again (after Covid).”

“We were told that we don’t even know if the pill they gave you will actually help us.”

Luca added: “It’s pretty scary.”