MeningitisB outbreak should authorities be doing more?

I think they did act quickly enough, listening to their reasons on why they acted as they did.
Antibiotics and vaccinations are going ahead and warnings.

I think they acted quickly enough too. The first priority had to be tracing and vaccinating the contacts of those who had contracted meningitis at that point. It wasn’t known then that it had wider public health implications and could be traced to one location.

Casdon

I think they acted quickly enough too. The first priority had to be tracing and vaccinating the contacts of those who had contracted meningitis at that point. It wasn’t known then that it had wider public health implications and could be traced to one location.

Many of the students had returned home, too, which is understandable as their parents must have wanted them safe at home.

If it saves lives every 17, 18, 19 year old should have had the vaccination. It doesn't seem right that this current cohort didn't receive the vaccine at this critical time in their lives. Two deaths so far is two too many.
If anyone in government has any sense, they'll make sure the next college intake is offered the vaccine before they start mingling in nightclubs etc.

Do we produce the vaccines in this country? I wonder if we could obtain enough supplies for all those children and young adults who were too old to receive the routine one?

Those who received the vaccine years ago may all need boosters too.

My understanding is that previous vaccines may not have provided protection from this particular strain of Meningitis B.
The university is providing antibiotics for all those on campus.
I live in Canterbury and one thing occurs to me - why was the local A&E closed several years ago? Now people have to travel to Margate or Ashford for. a&E care despite the large student population (there are 3 universities here) and the proximity of the M2 to and from Dover

Junior daughter lives in NY. She has one son at uni here and another who is boarding. She could not remember if they had had meningitis vaccines. Grrr...... I can't remember when they became part and parcel of the childhood immunisation regime. I suggested that she contacted both educational establishments to try and get them organised over here.

Her research in America told her that there was a shortage of vaccine here and, in order to get it, it would have to be paid for privately. Does anyone know anything about this? It seems odd to me but .......

She is going to wait until the boys get back to the States at Easter and have the jabs done then.

I am probably over-thinking this but does a booster shot have to be compatible with the original vaccination? Just curious.

I live in Ramsgate. Very worried about my granddaughter who is at uni in Keele as she has epilepsy. They have been told by student nurse fellow students that a vaccination will cost them £200. Surely not? With regard to the closure of A&Es, the big plan was to close them at Ashford and QEQM at Margate and open a new hospital south of Canterbury. Apparently a local businessman had offered the NHS the shell of a hospital - the NHS would have to equip it! I have to go to Kent & Canterbury hospital - it can take up to an hour from Ramsgate if the traffic is bad - can you imagine having a heart attack or something similar, and having to go through places like Wingham in a hurry?

I did have a heart attack and was taken to Ashford!

I can't remember when they became part and parcel of the childhood immunisation regime.

Apparently in 2015 for babies.

Although apparently DGD had one as a small child and would have been 4 then and her year group is due for a booster.

The French knew about the Meningitis before we did but didn't notify the UK until 48 hours later. I think it easy to blame the authorities but this is quite exceptional for such a spread of this strain of the disease.

I understand from news coverage that UK gov was aware of such days before it became public. I watch Katie Hopkins BSBB short videos. She mentioned that polio and leprosy were also on the rise in the UK. I remember in my early teens working alongside similar age group who had contracted polio as young children. The Gates Foundation has been working for years trying to eradicate polio worldwide.

They never act fast enough.over anything.and im worried about it spreading from area to area, as my son is at uni and is suseptable to catching everything.

Isla71

I understand from news coverage that UK gov was aware of such days before it became public. I watch Katie Hopkins BSBB short videos. She mentioned that polio and leprosy were also on the rise in the UK. I remember in my early teens working alongside similar age group who had contracted polio as young children. The Gates Foundation has been working for years trying to eradicate polio worldwide.

Katie Hopkins - aye right.
I wouldn’t trust her to tell me the time.

RosiesMawagain

Isla71

I understand from news coverage that UK gov was aware of such days before it became public. I watch Katie Hopkins BSBB short videos. She mentioned that polio and leprosy were also on the rise in the UK. I remember in my early teens working alongside similar age group who had contracted polio as young children. The Gates Foundation has been working for years trying to eradicate polio worldwide.

Katie Hopkins - aye right.
I wouldn’t trust her to tell me the time.

As of 2026, a total of three cases of leprosy have been diagnosed in the UK since the 195s, all in 2023 70 years. from people who arrived from overseas countries.
So yes, you could say it has risen - from nought to three cases over 70 years.

There have been no cases of naturally occurring paralytic polio in the UK since the 1980s.

Katie Hopkins has her own agenda.

You have to wonder exactly why it is spreading. It is a disease that has always been around but why has it suddenly become so widespread in a small area ? Horrible shades of Covid. Is it something environmental or has the disease itself morphed in some way and become more infectious ?

As of 2026, a total of three cases of leprosy have been diagnosed in the UK since the 195s, all in 2023 70 years.

I did read that before posting but it makes no sense!
Oh for an edit button.

As of 2026, a total of three cases of leprosy have been diagnosed in the UK since the 1950s, all in 2023, from people who arrived from overseas countries, ie three in 70 years.

nanna8

You have to wonder exactly why it is spreading. It is a disease that has always been around but why has it suddenly become so widespread in a small area ? Horrible shades of Covid. Is it something environmental or has the disease itself morphed in some way and become more infectious ?

I don't know.

No doubt investigations are underway.
This is a common strain but seems to have spread more easily.

It depends what she said doesn't it, there is fairly widespread reporting about the detection of poliovirus in sewage surveillance in London a couple of years ago. The government did a bit of a campaign on the importance of vaccines.

Katie Hopkins - aye right.
I wouldn’t trust her to tell me the time.

I sort of would, and sort of wouldn't! A family member knows her quite well in daily life and thinks she's quite sensible and " on the nail". But I also personally know people who were very hurt by her behaviour in the past.

The thing that is concerning is how a disease can spread before it has even hatched, ie before the sufferer knows. So the French young person who was in the Canterbury night club was able to return to their own country and potentially start a meningitis epidemic there. We'll never stop people travelling, so I don't know what the answer is.

I read that vaccines are being denied to students because staff finish at 5pm.
More than 100 people, including a student who had been at the nightclub at the centre of the outbreak, were turned away at the University of Kent’s pop up site yesterday after being told they arrived too late. Medical staff on campus began turning people away from 4.10pm, so they had time to vaccinate the final person at 4.30pm and give them time to sit for 15 minutes in case of side effects.

It seems vaccination “stopped” at 4.30 so that health staff could clock off at 5.00 after a 15 minute waiting time to check patients’ well being.
Surely this is not the time for clock watching and overtime would be more than justified?

Surely this is not the time for clock watching and overtime would be more than justified?

Indeed. It's like the war ship that wasn't prepared to sail from Porstmouth because something allegedly needed doing and it was the weekend! No one was working.
Why don't we move heaven and earth in this country to get important things done?: Worry about the financial cost later, because the cost to even one life is greater.

I don’t know if anyone has bothered to read the link re the smallpox outbreak but thanks to the quick action and diligence of medical staff a pandemic was prevented.

In one hospital they literally closed the doors, it didn’t matter if you were staff, visitor, delivery driver or patient.
Everyone was quarantined and vaccinated.

They successfully did a track and trace and nipped it in the bud.

All of this without the technology we have today.