LAST UPDATE | 18 Mar

THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT has announced a targeted vaccination programme for students at the University of Kent after an “unprecedented” meningitis outbreak killed two people.

Twenty cases of meningitis have been reported to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) in the outbreak.

Of these, nine cases have been confirmed in the lab and 11 remain under investigation.

Six of the confirmed cases have been confirmed as the meningitis B strain.

Around 5,000 students in university halls in Kent are to be offered the menB vaccine in the coming days.

Yesterday, the country’s health secretary Wes Streeting said that most students would not already be vaccinated against menB.

He told MPs that the outbreak is “unprecedented” and is “a rapidly developing situation”.

The vaccine programme may also expand further if other groups are deemed to be at risk.

UKHSA chief executive Susan Hopkins said the outbreak looks like “a super-spreader event, with ongoing spread within the halls of residence in the universities”.

She said: “I can say that in my 35 years working in medicine, in healthcare and hospitals, this is the most cases I’ve seen in a single weekend with this type of infection.

“It’s the explosive nature that is unprecedented here – the number of cases in such a short space of time.”

Four schools across Kent have now confirmed cases and hundreds of people are being offered antibiotics as an immediate treatment.

All reported cases so far have a link to Kent, according to the UKHSA.

At least one person who fell ill and had links to Kent attended a hospital in London.

Earlier yesterday, the deputy director of the immunisation and vaccine preventable diseases division at the UKHSA, Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam, said the outbreak of meningitis had been “unusual”, but she did not believe there was a current risk to anyone outside the Kent region.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that they have seen “no evidence of any wider spread”.

Experts said many of those affected attended a nightclub, Club Chemistry, in Canterbury over the weekend of 5 to 7 March.

What is meningitis, and what are the symptoms?

Meningitis is a serious infection of the lining around the brain and spinal cord.

It can be life-threatening if not treated quickly, particularly in cases caused by bacteria.

It spreads through close contact, such as coughing, sneezing or kissing. It can also be transmitted by sharing utensils, vapes, or drinks.

The infection is more common among babies, teenagers and young adults.

Symptoms can come on quickly and include a high temperature, stiff neck, sensitivity to light, confusion, vomiting and severe headache. In some cases, a rash may also appear.

Anyone with these symptoms should seek medical help immediately.

Vaccines can protect against some types of meningitis.

In Ireland and the UK, the menB vaccine has been part of routine childhood immunisation programmes for about a decade (rollout began in Ireland in December 2016 for all two-month old babies born after 1 October 2016).

This means that many young children are protected, but most older teenagers and adults have not received it.

More information on meningitis is available here.

Additional reporting from Andrew Walsh