Meningitis outbreak update as 7 more cases of deadly infection confirmed by UKHSA

There are fears that Kent students may be carrying the meningitis B bacteria and have left Kent and be at home with their families in other parts of the country

The number of cases of meningitis linked to an outbreak in Kent has risen to 27, up from 20 previously, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said.

Health chiefs say the meningitis crisis in Kent is a once in a generation outbreak as they rush to get antibiotics to students at risk of falling ill. The UK Health Security Agency is now mobilising to quickly treat any students with antibiotics before they fall ill after two students realised too late and died.

The UKHSA previously said that as of 5pm on Tuesday some 20 cases of meningitis had been reported to it, up from 15 on Monday. Of these, nine cases have been confirmed in the lab and 11 remain under investigation. Six of the confirmed cases have been confirmed as the meningitis B strain.

GPs nationwide have been told to be alert to anyone who may have attended Club Chemistry that weekend. There are fears that students may be carrying the MenB bacteria and have left Kent and be at home with their families in other parts of the country.

UKHSA chiefs told a media briefing on Tuesday afternoon that the meningitis B bacteria responsible for the outbreak is present in the throats of up to one in five of the population and many students who attended the “super spreader event” at Club Chemistry in Canterbury could be carrying it.

The UKHSA is investigating the outbreak that has left two young people dead - one was named as 18-year-old sixth-form pupil Juliette and the second person was a 21-year-old University of Kent student. The number of cases is expected to rise because the incubation period for the infection to when symptoms appear is two to 14 days.

Emma Marlow said her 19-year-old daughter Casey has spent days in hospital after she contracted meningitis after going to Club Chemistry nightclub at the centre of the deadly outbreak. Keeleigh Goodwin, 22, was also rushed to hospital with meningitis after a night out at the club. Both women remain in hospital.

The University of Kent has been described as like a ‘Ghost Town’ amid an outbreak of meningitis B. Almost all the frightened students have now left to head back to their homes - shocked by the meningitis outbreak. Many of them were picked up by frantic parents who had driven from all over the UK.

Students began to receive a meningitis B vaccine on Wednesday. Around 5,000 students from the Canterbury campus of the University of Kent are being offered the jab, alongside courses of antibiotics.

The first student to be given his jab at the University of Kent campus Sports Hall 2 was Oliver Contreras. The 22-year-old postgraduate law student said: "I'm pretty happy that I've got one now." Mr Contreras, from Brighton, said his father really wanted him to get it before heading home. My tenancy ends this weekend, so I wanted to make sure I got it on time," he said.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting was asked on BBC Breakfast whether he was concerned the outbreak could spread to other parts of the country as students leave Canterbury. He replied: "No and lots of students from Kent have already gone home. The reassuring thing here is that this disease spreads through close, personal contact. So it is things like kissing, sharing drinks, sharing vapes..."

Mr Streeting said the concern was not, for example, around people travelling on buses, adding: "Those aren't things we're worried about. It's close personal contact I've described." He said there are at least 350 cases of meningitis every year and he would not be surprised "if in different parts of the country, we see cases presented that are unconnected to this particular outbreak in Canterbury", though they would be investigated.

The UKHSA said it is aware of a baby with confirmed meningococcal group B infection “who is not currently linked to the outbreak but UKHSA will continue to investigate this case."

It comes after Health Secretary Wes Streeting told the House of Commons that Kent hospitals reported on Saturday a "number of severely unwell young adults were presenting with symptoms consistent with meningococcal disease". He said: "All those traced were offered precautionary antibiotics. So far 700 doses have been administered."

There is no evidence yet of spread outside Kent but investigators are concerned it was spread via kissing as well as sharing drinks and vapes at the club on the weekend of March 5th to the 7th. The UKHSA also believes it was spread further at parties back at university halls of residence. One health leader said they had never seen such an explosion of cases in 35 years.

Mr Streeting said: "This is an unprecedented outbreak. It is also a rapidly developing situation. Transmission requires close and prolonged contact to spread… so this is not like some of the other respiratory conditions that we've seen recently. It is important people understand how this disease is spread, because I think people might find that reassuring.”

Wes Streeting also laid out a timeline of when the infections were first diagnosed and said 700 doses of antibiotics have already been given out. The Health Secretary said the UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) was notified about the first case on March 13, at which point contact tracing began. UKHSA then contacted the University of Kent on Saturday.That day French officials alerted the agency to a case in France of somebody who attended the University of Kent.

Mr Streeting said he would ask the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which advises the UK government, to look again at whether older children should receive a meningitis B vaccine on the NHS. It could mean that unvaccinated older teens get jabbed however immunity will take weeks to build up to will not protect students from getting seriously unwell in the days ahead. Health officials said the drive is aimed at preventing a second wave of infections in several weeks time.