Should we be worried about meningitis outbreak?

It's appalling to hear of the young people who have lost their lives, in Kent now and as mentioned on this thread. I do think it's sickening that it's down to coincidence and circumstance that some people are aware of the disease and therefore took steps to get hold of the vaccine privately while others are unaware. By that I mean absolutely no disrespect to those who died or who have been affected by the death of another person. I feel like there wasn't a campaign about it because it would have led to people calling for the vaccine to have been made freely available like the others and rolled out freely to older young people. They had already decided that wasn't cost effective so nothing was ever said about it. That's not a great feeling for those of us with dc in schools, colleges and unis now.

That's true, it is a privilege to be able to pay for it. And I could as a result of my mum dying just before we went into the first Covid lockdown. So I don't consider myself 'lucky' or 'fortunate' in this sotuation. Prior to that time, it preyed on my mind after my experience at university of my house mate dying of menB. I wouldn't wish the infection on anyone, nor would I want my 19 year old child to live with a lifetime of regret from not being aware that MenB can look just like the flu or a hangover, and not knowing that my friend needed an ambulamce, rather than being left to 'sleep it off'. Back then we thought only babies and young children were at risk. MenB is a really emotive topic for me, so it's difficult for me to remain objective. However from a professional viewpoint, I stand by my evaluation in that it does not behave like Covid in terms of infectivity or mode of transmission. For these reasons, I'm not concerned about an epidemic or need for lockdowey

Because the doctors are made to spout what the NHS says. I genuinely worry for the critical thinking skills of today’s doctors because they are taught to parrot what the NHS decides. Not to make a careful analysis of what’s in front of them using data. Just to be a parrot. Might as well be an AI doctor.

This is another disgusting NHS failure. I have 2 DC (20 and 18) who were the wrong age for the NHS Men B vaccine. I paid privately to get them vaccinated when they were about 12ish. The vaccine was bread and butter. The NHS was too cheap to give it. Just like they were too cheap to heel prick Jesy Nelson’s babies for SMA.

I only knew there was a vaccine (only available privately) because about 3 years ago a friends child nearly died of meningitis, while in their first year at uni. She has then been working with a charity and advising others about the vaccine. I got my own DD vaccinated before she went to uni (she's in her 2nd year)

However (and im willing to look unbelievably stupid here) I didnt know until last week, how the infection could pass on to others

As above. I despair at how gullible and foolish some people are.

If I had known there was a vaccine available I would have had the DC vaccinated. It’s particularly annoying that I asked about vaccines for uni a couple of years ago on an econsult and was told that there was no need to do anything because they had had their MenACWY so were covered.

I’m guessing though that if your friend had died of it, like the PP you’re quoting, you would have been aware that there was a vaccination that you could buy privately.
My two youngest children were vaccinated as they were born after 2015 when it became part of the vaccine schedule, my eldest wasn’t so I paid to have her vaccinated privately. I don’t think it’s ‘sickening’, I just educated myself and make an informed choice.

Covid was a new disease. There was no way of testing for it and no vaccine. Nothing was really known about how it spread.

Meningitis B is not like that.

Sickening?

The OP’s housemate died at uni when they were in their teens.

Cautious, yes. Worried, no.

For this reason, I had my 2 DDs vaccinated privately 5 years ago.

@CreepingCrone It's pretty sickening that most people didn't have this option and you, as a well-informed professional, did because you both knew it was available and you could afford it. I didn't know there was a vaccine that wasn't given freely but was available to buy. Had I known it my dc would have had it but I didn't so they haven't. Others would have been unable to afford it. And you say you're not worried - that's good but your dc are vaccinated...

I'm not worried.
I work in biomedical research and infectious disease control. Covid and MenB are completely different diseases. This is a very unusual outbreak, however the disease modelling isn't anything like Covid.
I'm particularly awareness MenB as one of my uni house mates died of it when we were 19, which was, and continues to be, heartbreaking 😭 For this reason, I had my 2 DDs vaccinated privately 5 years ago.
The risk to the general public is very low. No need for a lockdown, although it don't think it was terribly wise for all the students to leave the Canterbury campus.

It's all very well saying it's only transmitted through saliva/very close contact but I have seen several news reports (BBC and Sky) in which they have said it is unprecedented the way it is spreading and in a worst case scenario that could mean it has mutated and is now easier to spread. I do think that is scary but obviously we are not there at the moment and hopefully it won't turn out to be the case. My ds has just come home from uni (not Kent but South East). We are in the Midlands so I was relieved and am not thrilled he's off to London to meet uni friends next week but I definitely don't think I can try and prevent him from going.

Well it's not fake news that there is an outbreak. It is absolutely fake news about a lockdown.
It is localised (mostly) and if you are not sharing bodily fluids with infected people you are a fine.
I do understand that teens/young twenties people are concerned as are their parents; plus small babies. However, general cleanliness and hygiene advice are always good to follow for the wider population.

Well a jab roll out for young adults wouldn’t be a bad thing At the moment people are paying £200 for them, if they can get them

No, we are not going to have a lockdown. It is nothing like covid. You dont have to be particularly intelligent to be able to understand that.
It is scaremongering by the media. You posting about it adds to the scaremongering. Please dont. Go and have a read about meningitis, on a reputable site, not facebook or the daily mail. Doing do should put any fears you have to rest.

People are putting out tiktoks about lockdown, etc, but we won't need it. It's obviously not going to happen

I told my children no licking people, wash your hands regularly you should be fine we are nowhere near the outbreak but instilling a bit of extra hygiene wont go amis

the virus only lasts seconds outside the body. So you’d have to be in very close contact with someone and they breathe on you. Don’t panic!!

Also why is it spreading spreading so fast? Probably because everyone's immunity is damaged from catching covid over and over again, a virus which is known to damage nourriture immune systems. These students will have repeatedly been infected by covid while still at school in unventilated classrooms, in schools that care more about attendance than keeping infectious children at home.
It's a situation of our own making because we've decide to pretend covid is "just a cold" when in fact it is a virus that causes long term damage to our health. Look up incidence rates for almost all diseases and conditions in England and they have tended up since 2020. The evidence is all there but society prefers to bury its head in the sand.

Its fake news and ai being spread around. They may increase the availability of the vaccine which would be a good thing but a lockdown won't happen

Just be aware that it's airborne, just like most illnesses like TB, flu, covid, RSV, chickenpox and more. So a surgical masks won't offer sufficient protection, wear an n95 if you are in any enclosed spaces especially in healthcare.

Why would they have lockdown etc? It’s not an unknown disease and they are giving antibiotics. COVID was a totally different thing. Step away from social media

I’ve cut well back on my saliva contact so no, I’m not worried.

The only way a lockdown would happen it would be very localised and probably be halls accommodation. If someone is saying a full lockdown for the country they are talking shite. I dont think any lockdowns will happen.

They seem to know the source (from what I read, but I havent read anything today) of the outbreak, it is spreading wildly in the community. We have antibiotics (not suitable for covid infections) and we have a vaccine that works well (unlike covid times when there was no vaccine).