Meningitis outbreak

[Flipitoff]

I’m freaking out a bit

DD has been here all day after travelling from uni yesterday. Her housemate is really poorly and now I’ve just seen the news about the meningitis outbreak at her uni.

Her housemate is in the house on her own now - I’ve told DD to call the uni and let them know. Worried that DD has been here with us all day in case she gets sick

“B is not” - for this age group, I mean.

… oops, sorry, during which all I remember was lying curled into a ball and unable to lift my head even an inch off the pillow. The second time, my DH woke in the early hours to find me unconscious on the floor near the bathroom, and as we lived near A&E, tried to get me up to walk to take me as it would be quicker, but like you, I had to be carried as I was literally unable to lift my head or stand up. Your description is SO scarily similar! I remember lying over his lap on the waiting room chairs sobbing with my arms over my head. Luckily it was early hours and, remarkably empty for a North London hospital and I had CT/MRI etc really quickly before isolation.

I think one think I have noted today arises out of my DS illness.. and meningitis symptoms. When he was a week old, I found him in his cot, very still, a blueish colour, with a membrane like film over his face… when we arrived at A&E he was descended upon by a team, and the one thing I remember is being shouted at “ is he normally mottled like this”?! And relying, “ I don’t know!! I’ve only been home a day from my c-section!”…, He had three attempts at lumbar puncture ( grim), and was diagnosed with Bronchiolitis in the end. But, the Doctors impressed on me that mottling is a rarely seen symptom, but can be a symptom- which should be more widely known and recognised.

Hoping you are fully recovered now. I was told having it once does make you more susceptible ( viral). I cannot imagine how brutal bacterial is. My positive thoughts are with everyone involved.. 🤗

That’s not true. We all have it in our throats. It’s activated by being airborne. Not through snogging.

I was 19 when I got it and single. It was also a j overdose outbreak. My mum went there. I didn’t and I got it

I had bacterial.

I don’t remember it though really. I remember being really unwell and going from nothing to dying in a hour. I don’t remember anything else. I was in hospital for 4 months.

Oh interesting. I’ll check up on this too.

How is your DDs housemate @Flipitoff

I'd like to know this too. My pharmacist said no boosters needed, but I'm a bit confused about it.

Off topic but I also have a jan 2015 baby! 19th! How is year 6 going?!

I have been looking for evidence on this. I found this 2024 study dealing with real-world effectiveness of MenB vaccine:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11232649/#cit0135

Regarding duration of protection, this extract from the study is interesting:

Hello fellow Jan 15 Mummy! Mine is the 9th 😀It's going great actually, we have middle school not primary and upper and she is loving life, made lots of new friends. Gearing up for SATs but quite low key at our school so all good. Hope all good with you xx

Same re: SATs, she’s stressing a bit though, despite just scraping through a pass mark on her mocks. I wish we had middle school here! She is NOT ready for high school at all and frankly neither am I… 🙈

@Kissmystarfish No, we don’t all have it! People who do don’t know they have it.

Look at NHS info and advice on who is most likely to get it and why. We have around 400 cases a year and it used to be well over 1000. The vaccinations do work. The people who get it are most likely to be babies, children and young adults plus the elderly. Kissing is a major reason for transfer as is sneezing and coughing. Close proximity is what matters. Closing a nightclub is ludicrous unless it’s to avoid snogging transfer!

I got my DD the Men B vaccine 11 years ago at Boots and am just finding out tonight that it only covers you for a handful of years??? Nobody told me that at the time, AND I've kept the info leaflet they gave me on the day and there is nothing in there that tells you the protection only lasts a few years! Not a word. I went away thinking my DD had lifetime protection and it turns out she doesn't. She's now 17 - actually due to attend a UCAS day at the University of Kent in two weeks (which presumably they might cancel??). I'm fuming. If I'd known I would have taken her back every few years to get her vaccinated again, but I had no idea.

They could not possibly have known 11 years ago how long protection would last, for a vaccine that was first licensed in 2013 (EU) and 2015 (USA).

So my children and the men b vaccine privately
And I was told no boosters needed so Is that not the case then ?
I have an adult child at uni

My kids did not get the jab as they are too old - I paid for them to have them done at Boots, it was £200 each for the course of two jabs. It doesn't guarantee they won't get it, but they have a better chance of fighting it if they do. You cannot put a price on that, although I do think it should be on the NHS given the risk to life it poses.

How many Men B vaccines are needed? My local clinic says 3 at £128 each. But some on this thread are saying their son/daughter is getting one or two. Its confusing.

Two, not three. Avoid that clinic and go to Boots or Superdrug for £110 per dose.

Exactly. Easier to get angry at some anonymous "them" though.

They do now though. There will be lots of people who got their kids vaccinated when it came out and paid for it. Many of these kids will be off to uni and the parents won’t realise they need another jab.

We were thinking of getting ours done when the vaccine first came out - similarly they would have been 11 at the time and I would have done to so they were protected at Uni. I’m glad I help off now as it’s expensive for a vaccine that only lasts a few years and they are more at risk at uni.

I think there needs to be an information campaign about the Men B vaccine.

I had the Men B vaccine booked for DS this week at Superdrug and just had a call to say they are out of stock and don’t know when supplies will be available. So even if you want to pay for the vaccine to protect your DC you can’t. The Kent strain has now been confirmed as Men B.

I wish the R4 presenter wouldn't keep pushing the professionals to 'admit' there was a delay in informing the public about the outbreak.
I thought both Andrew Pollard & Gayatri Amirthalingam did very well, explaining in clear terms why this outbreak is different to previous one and that they followed procedure.
I know it's their job to press the people they're interviewing and I think with politicians they do well (cos many politicians tie themselves in a ball of knots trying to avoid answering a question), but this just came across as a bit sensationalist tbh.

I wonder if this is part of the reason for the delay in announcing the strain. So that vaccine stocks can be directed to where needed most? Inevitable that if it was announced immediately everyone would book privately regardless of exposure?
just musing.

Yes I just found that out, turns out they have confirmed it was B strain. That's worrying, it's given when they are tiny, so maybe I should get Dd a booster for B if I can get her in.

I see it’s been confirmed as men B. Is Meningitis more dangerous in students because of their age and how their immune system reacts , or simply because they live in close proximity to lots of people?

also is men b always the exact strain of men b vaccine? Or could it be a new men b strain hence the outbreak..?