UK Health Security Agency names two Berkshire schools after death — Men B Vaccine
The UK Health Security Agency named Reading Blue Coat school and Highdown secondary school and sixth form centre after a student died in a Berkshire meningitis outbreak, as it said close contacts of the cases had been offered precautionary antibiotics. The agency said the risk to the wider public remains low, and the men b vaccine is already part of the NHS childhood programme for babies since 2015.
Dr Rachel Mearkle, a consultant in health protection, said: "We are working closely with partners and have provided public health advice and precautionary antibiotic treatment to close contacts of the cases. Meningococcal disease does not spread easily and the risk to the wider public remains low."
Reading Blue Coat and Highdown
The agency identified the two schools as places attended by pupils receiving treatment for meningitis. It also said the student who died attended Henley college in Oxfordshire, and it confirmed the death on Thursday.
Henley college said: "Our thoughts and sincere condolences are with the student’s family and friends at this extremely difficult time. We are supporting those affected within our college community and are following the advice and guidance given by the UK Health Security Agency." The college added: "Out of respect for the family, we will not be providing further detail at this time."
Dr Rachel Mearkle
Mearkle said students and staff would naturally be worried about more cases, but that meningococcal meningitis requires very close contact to spread and large outbreaks are rare. Andrew Preston, a professor of microbial pathogenicity at the University of Bath, said the latest outbreak had emerged in the college-age cohort, like the Kent outbreak.
Preston said: "All current cases appear contained to a well-defined social contact group, which enables rapid contact tracing and the administration of antibiotics and vaccination if deemed a necessary precaution." He added: "At the moment, there is no indication of transmission to the wider community, although understandably this will have caused wide concern in the area."
Men B Vaccine since 2015
Meningococcal disease is diagnosed in between 300 and 400 cases in England every year, and it is most common in babies, young children, teenagers and young adults. The men b vaccine has been offered routinely to babies as part of the NHS childhood vaccination programme since 2015, while the Berkshire strain was said to be different from the strain that spread in Kent.
For families linked to the schools, the immediate practical step is to follow public health advice and any antibiotic treatment offered to close contacts. For everyone else, the agency’s position is that the wider public risk remains low, even as the outbreak has reached two Berkshire schools and a college community already dealing with one death.
