Kent meningitis outbreak identified as strain B not covered by most teenage vaccines

Scientists have confirmed that the meningitis outbreak linked to deaths in Kent has been caused by meningococcal group B, a strain that most teenagers and young adults have not been vaccinated against.

Gayatri Amirthalingam, deputy director of immunisation and vaccine-preventable diseases at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said laboratory testing had identified the strain responsible for the cluster of cases.

“We are able to say this morning that we have now identified from some of the testing that it seems to be the group B meningococcal strain that is causing the outbreak in Kent,” she told BBC Radio 5 Live.

Unlike other strains of meningococcal disease routinely covered by the teenage vaccination programme, group B is not included in the vaccine offered to adolescents.

“We have a meningococcal vaccine covering four different strains in teenagers,” Amirthalingam said. “Usually it is given at the age of 13 or 14 years of age. It covers four main groups A, C, W and Y.”

The MenB vaccine was introduced on the NHS for infants in 2015, meaning most people born before that year have not received protection against the strain unless they arranged vaccination privately.

Private courses typically cost between £200 and £240 for two doses in the UK.

The outbreak has been linked to two deaths. A Year 13 pupil in Faversham, identified by her parents only as Juliette, died after contracting the infection. A second fatality involved a student from the University of Kent.

Several others are currently receiving treatment in hospital.

Public health officials are urging anyone who attended Club Chemistry in Canterbury on 5th, 6th or 7th March to come forward for precautionary antibiotics. The nightclub’s owner said more than 2,000 people may have visited during those dates.

Amirthalingam stressed that people offered preventive antibiotics should take them promptly.

“If you are a university student and you’ve been offered antibiotics, or anyone else who’s been offered antibiotics, please take that immediately,” she said. “It’s an effective measure for protecting yourself but also your loved ones, your family and your friends.”

Health experts say meningococcal disease spreads primarily through close contact, including saliva exchange.

Amirthalingam confirmed that sharing vapes could be one possible route of transmission.

“Meningococcal disease is spread through a number of different routes. Vaping is just one,” she said. “It is very much linked to close contact.”

Dr Eliza Gil, a clinical lecturer in infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said current university-age cohorts have little immunity to the strain.

“These students won’t have any immunity to meningitis B,” she said.

She added that while sharing vapes was not confirmed as the cause in this case, any shared item that enters the mouth carries a transmission risk.

“Sharing anything that goes in your mouth is a potential risk factor for transmitting a mouth-living bacteria,” she said.

The outbreak has prompted calls for the government to examine whether older teenagers should be offered a catch-up vaccination programme.

Helen Whately, Conservative MP for Faversham and Mid Kent and a former health minister, said the issue would need to be assessed if the outbreak indicated a wider risk.

“One of the things the UKHSA will need to look at is if there is now a greater risk around this outbreak – and in future – should there be some kind of vaccination catch-up for that group,” she said.

The UKHSA has rejected suggestions that its response was slow. Amirthalingam said the links between cases were identified within 24 hours despite the difficulty of gathering information from severely ill patients.

However, Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious disease specialist at the University of East Anglia, said earlier warnings to clinicians can sometimes help doctors recognise the disease sooner.

“Meningococcal disease can progress very rapidly,” he said. “You can go from relatively mild symptoms to being critically ill within a matter of hours.”

Two sites in Kent are currently distributing preventive antibiotics, with two further collection centres expected to open.

The UKHSA says the measures are intended to prevent further spread while investigations continue.

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Photo Credit | University of Kent / Alamy

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