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

I could be wrong but I think the cases have been traced to a nightclub where young people were in close contact, possibly sharing drinks and vapes. So it’s not just young people in these two accommodation blocks. A student at University of Christchurch in Canterbury also has meningitis.

I work for CCCU and we're currently having a briefing from our VC and the Dean of CCCU/Kent Medical School (who's also an intensive care consultant).

Key takeaways so far:

All cases relate to Club Chemistry - yes there has been an increase in numbers, but still relate to original transmission - no evidence of secondary transmission.
Meningitis is a very fragile organism.
Bacteria start to die within a minute after leaving body (Covid in comparison lasts for 24 hours)
Doesn't grow in lungs so inhalation not a danger.
Not as infectious as, for example, measles
Spreads through exchange of body fluids
Personal theory for why spread so much in Club Chemistry - sharing vapes

That's awful I had no idea. Very likely to be a factor.

A Y13 could well be 18 and buying her own drinks.

Dalton unless someone sneezes and sprays it or coughs and doesn't catch it ?

@Wipeywipey that's awful same near me a good 30 mins for an a and e longer in rush hour

https://www.youtube.com/live/u0_5jDwqDtM - UKHSA admitted it knew a cluster of cases a full day before telling the public on Sunday night.

He's very clear and reassuring. Would definitely dispel some of the scaremongering if he addressed more people!

He also says he thinks it's unlikely to be a new, more infectious strain. Said if that was the case, likely they would be seeing secondary transmission.

from what i've seen of screenshots shared on facebook, they're mostly saying 'we've been told schools are safe and just watch out for symptoms'. etc.a children's group we attend sent out an email saying not to come in if any cold or flu symptoms because of vulnerable users, and that they'd do extra cleaning.

27now

Thank you - this is good information. I guess more of a super spreader event in terms of the sharing vapes than anything to do with it being more infectious. Yes it’s bacterial so will act differently to a virus. I think people are panicking due to covid trauma.

My takeaway is- It’s a localised outbreak that for some reason is slightly worse than normal outbreaks.

It’s been a good lesson on brushing up on symptoms and reminding teenagers about them and also that the Men b vaccination doesn’t last very long so ideally all teens would have this just before uni and it must be paid for unfortunately.

We’re in Bucks and have had a bog standard letter outlining symptoms and what vaccinations children will have had.

One case in a Morrisons depot 🤔

A worker at a Morrisons distribution centre at Fleet End in Sittingbourne was also confirmed to have contracted meningitis after going to Club Chemistry in Canterbury.

It looks like they were at the club too. Just posted as you put the edit.

He also explained why they had shifted from using the term prophylactic to precautionary antibiotics (when talking about the ABs given to those in Club Chemistry etc) - in that it was actually more about the reassurance, than risk.

Went on to explain why wider blanket precautionary ABs weren't a good idea as the risk of increasing antimicrobial resistance (not for the meningitis bacteria as due to its fragility, the ABs would get rid, but the other bacteria in a person's body, having a field day!) vastly outweighed the meningitis 'risk'.

So now the BBC are reporting that over 40 MPs are urging the government to add Men B vaccine to the schedule for students.

Not before time, how many more young people and their families have to be affected by this terrible disease before something is changed for the better.

Did he also share the teenagers vapes then

All reported cases have been linked to Kent, and GPs across England were told on Wednesday to prescribe antibiotics to anyone who attended Club Chemistry between 5 and 7 March or University of Kent students who have left campus.

I found Wes Streeting’s messaging on Sky news difficult to understand or did I miss something? Did he not just say nobody needs to get a private vaccine but he would be making more vaccines available for private providers and pharmacies who’ve ran out?
so basically nobody needs one but they’re making more available for those who can pay??

The AB/vaccination interventions seem to be largely about public reassurance (although it does seem to then have the opposite effect!).

It’s really nasty stuff. Full of bacteria that happily live alongside but are really waiting to invade our bodies at the first opportunity. A human bite is far more dangerous than a dog bite.
I has always amazed me that we don’t see more serious outbreaks in teenagers and young adults, but I suppose that’s why vaccination programmes and healthy immune systems are so important.

The immune response in the mouth is our super power. Healing in the mouth is 10x faster than the rest of the body due to the presence of all the immune cells in saliva and the fact a damp environment allows cells to rapidly populate a breach in the mucosa barrier. It’s no coincidence in other mammals that licking and cleaning a wound speeds up healing.

I work one day a week and last week came down with a cold ( probably covid) within 24hrs of being in work. When I went in this week it appears several staff were also infected the same day. We obviously had a patient in carrying the cold. It was mild with no obvious symptoms just sore throat, headache and fever so we would not have spotted the culprit. It just demonstrates how a brief contact with an infected person can spread disease. The difference being it was probably an airborn virus.
This men b bacterial infection is more intriguing and hopefully once they find the cause it will hopefully lead to better practice. Although sharing vapes seems obvious I’m more inclined to look at bar staff handling bottles which are often wet, being store in fridges then condensation forming when removed into a hot room. Bacteria wouldn’t live on a dry surface but a warm bar surface covered in a soup of beer & sugary mixers is probably a pretty good medium to keep them alive. Also when bottles are opened the beer often fizzes up and o er the neck of the bottle and makes a perfect conduit for bacterial transfer from contaminated hands.

Its completely irresponsible to distribute ab merely for public reassurance 😡.

I can see how vapes spread it, and I know people share vapes- but I can't see this many people sharing a vape

Older adults don’t usually share vapes but younger adults often pass them around, just as they did with cigarettes when more people smoked.