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 definitely agree with this, friends share, and then one friend shares with other friends. This happens up and down the country.

But this is a lot of people, not seemingly from the same friendship groups.

Does it say how old the Morrisons worker was then? He could still easily be around 20. The same age as a lot of the students. And have friends that are students. He could also be 25/30 and still go clubbing and snogging women in their 20s.

Yes - I think it’s potentially risky for people to think they haven’t shared vapes so they’ll be OK.

Not saying that that's the only reason, but definitely plays a part. They will have weighed up everything, including that, if worse comes to the worst, that they can say they've done everything they possibly could have.

It will be vapes, snogging, sharing bottles or getting drinks mixed up…

They also cram into small toilet cubicles and share them to vape inside.

Presumably as it’s bacterial, the antibiotics ward any developing infection off or at least delay it a bit?
Im sure they have weighed up the risks to the benefits?

Although I personally think it could give false reassurance…

The nightclub owner has said two of her staff are in hospital (BBC).

Yes I completely agree with this. It happens up and down the country every day- it doesn't explain why it is a problem now.

The link to the cases is the club, not friendship groups.

But this happens all the time. What made this a super spreader event

There are too many random people with no apparent links for it to have been started by one ‘patient zero’ person sharing a vape or a drink with another person, then that person sharing a vape with another random person. I would think differently if people from the same friendship groups were getting unwell too.
Much more likely it was a staff member who was handling drinks especially considering the infections happened over multiple days.

It’s 27 cases isn’t it? I think that’s too high for vaping route, more likely a bar source.

How much saliva is required to pass it on?

But still this spread is unheard of, what is different?

The initial case would need the meningitis bacteria to have invaded through the tissue to cause the infection that can be passed on. And that person had no immunity I guess. Cases of meningitis are rare. That is why it isn’t happening all over the country and big outbreaks are rare.

I would like to know if men B is bacterial and not viral how the vaccines work and how effective they are.
I’m fully convinced of the need to so but also was wondering about the bacterial element.

Actually, apparently, someone with meningitis is much less likely to transmit the bacteria than someone with the bacteria just lingering harmlessly in their nose and throat.

~10% of the general population and ~25% of younger people carry the bacteria without it invading into the tissue.

There is some thought that in addition to vaping being an increased transmission risk, vaping inflames the throat tissue, making it easier for the bacteria to invade.

It wouldn't surprise me if all it boiled down to was just a freak, 1 in a million occurrence, with all the risk factors coming together at once.

(Obviously not to minimise the absolute devastation it has caused the two families who have lost loved ones).

But presumably big outbreaks are not so rare to warrant such poor preparation in terms of leaving this cohort unvaccinated. France saw several outbreaks of meningitis in recent years, in 2024 and 2025, one in Lyon university so maybe not as ‘unprecedented’ as we’re led to believe ?

Well, it's a case of weighing up risk/benefit. Considering in an average year, menB affects around 0.0005% of the UK population..

Add in that the vaccine has limited duration and that it doesn't stop transmission.

I had read that the vaccine is produced using 4 proteins found on the surface of the bacteria. If a person is then exposed, the immune system will recognise these proteins from the bacteria and mount an immune response.
Viral vaccines typically use a weakened/inactivated form of the virus to produce the immune response, the mechanism with the MenB vaccine is similar, just using a ‘signature’ part of the pathogen.

The vaccines work similarly to vaccines against TB, for example. They contain a portion of the bacterium in a weakened or inactive state in order to train the immune system to defend against it and build up antibodies.

Earlier this week I booked a private vaccine for my DC for next week when they are home from uni. We are not near Kent but I fully expected the appointment to be cancelled so that vaccines could, rightly so, be sent to Kent.

I’ve just received an email from Superdrug, cancelling the appointment:
If you booked a Meningitis B vaccination service appointment, unfortunately, there is currently a national shortage of the Meningitis B vaccine, and we have now run out of stock. We are doing all we can to secure more stock, but our suppliers are currently unable to confirm when further stock will be available.
As a result, we need to cancel your appointment. Please note, you will not be charged for this cancellation.
We’re very sorry for the inconvenience this may cause.
We will save your details for a priority waitlist and notify you first as soon as we have stock.

Sorry yours got cancelled, too. But, at least your DC will be on a wait list. Boots in Scotland said zero priority for my DS, whose appointment on Sunday that I had paid for has been cancelled. If GlaxoSmithKline won’t supply them, then that is beyond their control. But, failing to put cancelled patients onto a wait list and leaving them to scramble around for an appointment when they become available again, is really not ok. If Superdrug can manage to do it, then surely Boots can find a way.

3 students all belonging to a cheerleading group are also in hospital. Do cheerleaders vape?

20% of the population vape, not sure of the age range breakdown. Why would cheerleaders not vape? I suppose there might be more close contact and saliva spread in a cheerleaders’ group.