NOS News•
A vaccination program will be launched for University of Kent students after two young people aged 18 and 21 died following a meningococcal outbreak. They died of meningitis caused by this bacterium. At least fifteen others are in hospital with symptoms, the BBC reports.
One of the fatalities, a 21-year-old man, was studying at university. The other victim is an 18-year-old woman. She attended a secondary school in the same region.
The outbreak is linked to an event at Club Chemistry nightclub in Canterbury. Meningococci spread through the air. You can also become infected by kissing. An infection does not always mean that it will make you ill.
‘Unprecedented Outbreak’
British Health Secretary Wes Streeting said in Parliament today that “given the seriousness of the situation” there will be a “targeted vaccination programme” for students at the University of Kent.
“This is an unprecedented outbreak,” Streeting said. “It is also a situation that is developing rapidly.” The British government does not rule out that vaccinations will be offered on a larger scale.
Antibiotics as a precaution
The UKHSA health agency has contacted 30,000 people in the region so far. This concerns students, employees and their families. The UKHSA called the outbreak “particularly large”.
The authorities advise anyone who visited Club Chemistry between March 5 and 7 to be treated with antibiotics as a precaution. At the University of Kent, this has today led to a queue of students wanting antibiotics.
The first cases in Kent were diagnosed on Saturday. To date, a number of cases have been confirmed to be meningococcal type B. A vaccine for this has been available in the United Kingdom since 2015, as part of regular childhood vaccinations. This does mean that the current generation of students and young people in their late teens have not had that vaccination.
In the Netherlands, 121 people contracted this type B infection in 2024, the RIVM reports. That is a sharp decrease compared to the 1990s. There is a vaccine against meningococcal B, but it is not included in the National Vaccination Program. You can be vaccinated at your own expense.
