Why has this meningitis outbreak spread so fast?

What’s Happening

Listen up: There have been 20 cases since the weekend in one small area of Kent - but this isn’t the normal pattern, so what could have happened?

Why has this meningitis outbreak spread so fast? 2 hours ago Save James Gallagher Health and science correspondent Save This meningitis outbreak is deeply unusual and defies easy explanation. (we’re not making this up)

It has been described as unprecedented and explosive because there have been 20 cases since the weekend in one small area of Kent.

The Details

This is not the normal pattern. Meningitis typically occurs as isolated one-off cases.

Its now rare in the UK but occasionally there are small clusters, such as two infants at nursery in the north of England in 2023. Bigger outbreaks have happened before.

Why This Matters

In the 1980s, there were 65 cases of MenB, including two deaths, in Gloucestershire but those cases were reported over four- and-a-half years not less than a week. The burning question is: whats different this time? How has an infection that requires close and prolonged physical contact, that spreads more slowly than measles, Covid or flu, caused such a rapid outbreak?

Medical professionals are taking note of this development.

Key Takeaways

• The answer is important, but not obvious – so far it appears to be an exceptional outbreak in seemingly unexceptional circumstances.
• Even connections to the Club Chemistry nightclub – where 11 out of the first 15 affected had partied – do not give a complete picture.
• Students sharing vapes and drinks in a busy nightclub is a scene repeated up and down the country, rather than a unique event.
• We know people regularly catch meningitis B bacteria and they usually live harmlessly in the nose.

The Bottom Line

Its only in a tiny number of cases that the bacteria cross the barriers inside our nose to invade the body and cause meningitis and sepsis. For Prof Andrew Preston, from the University of Bath, there are two broad explanations for the numbers getting severely ill and dying in Kent.

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