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

Boots in Maidstone had spaces when I booked yesterday.

The school have sent an update from the UKHSA. They’ve referenced this as “invasive meningococcal disease”, strain Men B.
The advice is for business as usual - but close contacts and those who were at the nightclub in Canterbury on 5-7th March are being advised to have ABs. They’ve recommended vigilance regarding any symptoms for everyone else & given clear guidance on what to look for.

Regarding vaccinations - “there is no routine MenB vaccination programme for young adults. MenB vaccination is only routinely offered to children under two, meaning children born before 2015 (when this programme was introduced) have not been vaccinated as part of their routine immunisation schedule”
Sometimes they do vaccinate during outbreaks as a protective measure but this is not being actioned at this time. Parents will be informed if this changes.

It really is not “affecting schools”. Dc must be in close contact with a carrier to get it. This is also a rare occurrence. Closing buildings is pointless and so is mask wearing. It’s most likely carried by someone close to the dc. It’s pretty well established how it’s transmitted.

My DD1 was 16 in 2008 and definitely had a vaccination at school. Well before 2015. Seems optional in many places.

Your DD1 did not have a vaccine for Menigitis B in 2008 as the vaccine was only approved in 2013 and then introduced for babies in the NHS vaccine program in 2015. My DC were born in 2010 and 2013 and I paid for them to have it privately in 2015 when it became clear that there would be no NHS catch up program.

So they had the other one then! However it is something parents need to be aware of.

Not MenB!

There were some country-specific MenB vaccines developed before the global ones, but they were based on different technology and were only useful against a particular strain circulating in a particular country at the time (Norway, Cuba, Chile and New Zealand are referred to in the literature). New Zealand in particular had an epidemic of country-specific MenB for roughly 20 years around the Millennium, and a targeted vaccine was rolled out. The NZ strain of MenB has now appeared again in a current outbreak at the University of Otago in Dunedin.

Not sure the medics on site agree that 'mask wearing is pointless' seeing as they are handing them out to students in the queue for antibiotics and wearing masks and otehr PPE themselves.

Schools can be a vector of transmission in an outbreak. Of course they can. Less likely but not out of the question.

It may or may not be affecting schools. “Most” current cases are said to be linked to a particular nightclub (per Wes Streeting). For those not linked, no doubt work is being done on where transmission is likely to have occurred. And with an “unprecedented” cluster of 16 known serious cases (15 in England and one linked case in France) I expect they will be looking at whether there is anything different about this strain which makes it more easily transmissible.

It is affecting schools-because the club that seems to be the centre of the outbreak is very popular with 6th formers. There will have been young people from many nearish-by schools at the club on the specific nights.

I wonder if better ventilation in places like clubs would help

I do wonder if Vapes are the main vector - much more sharing of them than kissing or drinks.

I think vapes and the sharing of them (more than we did with cigarettes) is contributing.

Would you avoid going to the Theatre in Canterbury if it was booked?

Are the children/young people affected all friends? Because I can’t see anyone sharing vapes with strangers any more than I shared my cigarette with total strangers when I was that age. Friends yes, we all did if someone wanted a drag.
It seems that people who don’t know each other have caught it from the club. Also wasn’t there a case/cases linked to a house party and a boy from the party stated they weren’t at the club but got on a bus to the party and there were Kent uni students on it, as he doesn’t know how else the person would have caught meningitis

Agree with you @CurlewKate. My eldest daughter used to go there quite often when she was in sixth form.

My other two are at senior schools in the city, and I'm really quite stressed out. Though my youngest is at a fairly new school without a sixth form, so I feel she's a little safer.

I heard that too. Wasn't the party in Whitstable?

I am really confused. My DD was born 2010. We paid for her to have Meningitis B after an outbreak amongst v young children. She was vaccinated.

in Y9 she had another meningitis vaccine. I don’t think that protects from B though does it?

Am I right in thinking that the one we paid privately for doesn’t offer lifelong protection?

The fact that there is so much confusion around this very serious illness is really shocking. I have been trying to look into this all day but am still not 💯 sure.

@Picoloangel yes that's my understanding.

So even babies who did get men B won't be immune as teens

We got ours done in 2016 so I guess their not protected now.

Wow if young people caught it from being on a bus that's a huge worry

Re vapes I'm not sure how they work but does it contain the person's breath when they breathe out ?

But a cigarette is thrown away after a few drags, a vape lasts much longer, so a greater amount of friends the same vape can be passed around. I have no idea if this is the case, I'm just musing - tbh this would be preferable to a more contagious variant.

@Picoloangel looks likely that she would not be immune, and would need to be immunised again.
This needs to be make much clearer on all immunisation, are they for life or not.

It’s the saliva. That would stay on the vape. I think also if you cough/snneze then the droplets will infectious. It definitely requires close contact to spread.

It is affecting schools
Dane Court Grammar School in Broadstairs
Highworth Grammar School in Ashford
Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School in Faversham
Langton Boys in Canterbury
Norton Knatchbull in Ashford

"Meanwhile, Kent County Council says Nore Academy and Estuary Academy Island on Sheppey are closed due to links with people who may have meningitis". (From the Kent Online article).

Just reading in the Times that the Menb germ varies and the vaccine won’t protect against all the variants of the Menb. This is new information to
me.

Me too @Delatron. I did think the vaccine only gave short-term protection but that's even more depressing.

Showing 75% protection in those immunised I read. Still pretty good.

I thought that was the Men ACWY vaccine?

I do hope the Menb one is as effective but I didn’t realise there were other strains within that one! Obviously still worth paying for and getting the vaccine.