Number of meningitis circumstances rises to twenty as Kent outbreak grows by a 3rd in simply in the future – and personal vaccine provides run out

The number of cases of meningitis being investigated in Kent increased to 20 today as health officials battle to halt Britain’s worst outbreak in a generation.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) revealed this morning that the total had risen from the 15 declared yesterday, amid fears the death toll of two could also rise.

Of the 20 total, nine have been confirmed in the lab and 11 remain under investigation. Six of the confirmed cases so far have been established to be meningitis B.

The National Pharmacy Association industry group revealed this morning that there was now no stock of meningitis B vaccines available for people to pay for privately.

The UKHSA declared a national incident after a grammar school pupil and a university student died – and cases outside of Kent were reported in London and France.

A baby is also fighting for her life in a London hospital after becoming unwell on March 4, just days before the cluster of meningitis cases emerged in Canterbury.

Nine-month-old Nala-Rose Fletcher, from Folkestone, is in intensive care at Evelina London Children’s Hospital, as doctors warned she faces ‘life-changing’ surgeries.

Confirming the updated total number of cases this morning, a UKHSA spokesman said: ‘All those affected who are currently linked to the outbreak are young adults. 

‘UKHSA is aware of a baby with confirmed meningococcal group B infection who is not currently linked to the outbreak but UKHSA will continue to investigate this case.’

The outbreak, which appears to stem from Club Chemistry nightclub in Canterbury, has already killed sixth-form pupil Juliette Kenny, 18, and a 21-year-old University of Kent student. Experts fear club events may have acted as ‘super spreaders’ and cases could rise in the coming days.

More than a dozen people are in hospital and there are fears the number could rise as it can take up to 14 days for symptoms to appear and clubgoers continued to socialise before the outbreak was made public. 

Olivier Picard, chairman of the National Pharmacy Association, revealed today that there was currently no stock of meningitis B vaccines available for people to pay for privately.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning that pharmacies were used to ‘bridging the gap between what the NHS offers and what patients want’.

Mr Picard said: ‘Unfortunately, that supply has run out, and most of our distributors, wholesalers, have no stock. And whilst we’re hearing that there may be some stock in the system, it is taking its time to come into our fridges. There’s no date of resupply.

‘Overnight, between sort of the hours of 11pm and 6am this morning, I have received over 100 appointments through our booking system in my pharmacies for a vaccine we simply don’t have any idea when they will be available.

‘We are at the mercy of the manufacturers and the wholesalers to supply our pharmacies, and our patients are worried. They want their children vaccinated.’

He described it as an ‘impossible situation’.

Amish Patel, a pharmacist from Kent, told BBC News: ‘We’ve seen a huge increase in inquiries for the meningitis vaccine, from having maybe one or two calls a week at best to now 10 to 15 calls in a day.

‘It’s a huge, huge increase. Currently we have no stock of meningitis vaccines left and the bigger problem is we can’t also order any more.

‘All the wholesalers are also showing no stock and to add further on to that, we don’t know when stock is coming back in. At the moment, it’s a case of just keep on refreshing our order pages and seeing if stock is back available.’

Health Secretary Wes Streeting told BBC Breakfast this morning that his ‘heart goes out to the families of those two young people who have tragically died’, adding the cases ‘throw into sharp relief how serious’ meningitis can be

He insisted that the general risk to the public is ‘very low’ despite the disease being ‘extremely serious’, explaining that the disease is spread through close personal contact such as sharing drinks or vapes and kissing.

Mr Streeting said health officials are not concerned about transmission between people sharing more general spaces such as trains, adding: ‘We’re proactively managing it.’

A normal year in the UK would see 350 cases of meningitis – around one per day, according to Mr Streeting.

So he is expecting cases in other parts of the country, and these will be examined to check any link to the Kent outbreak.

Mr Streeting said: ‘What’s worried us about the Canterbury outbreak is the pace and extent of the spread of the disease that is unprecedented, and that’s why we are being so proactive in the provision of antibiotics, because they’re an effective treatment, but also standing up vaccination at a pace and in a way that we wouldn’t normally do.’ 

While the UKHSA has declared a national incident to help ensure supplies of antibiotics, Mr Streeting said: ‘This is not currently a national incident’.

He said a national incident is declared when a health emergency puts ‘critical stress and pressure on the health system’, but ‘that in no way applies here’.

Mr Streeting said the response is being ‘managed nationally’, but added: ‘It’s not the same as a national incident of the type we saw in the Covid pandemic.’

On people seeking private menB vaccines for their children, Mr Streeting said: ‘It’s not a surprise to me that people are seeing the headlines and thinking, ‘well, I might just go out and buy myself a vaccination’.

‘But just to be clear, that is not necessary. I can understand why people are doing it, and I can also understand why therefore, in some pharmacies where people are buying privately in numbers they wouldn’t normally, pharmacies have run out in one or two cases.

‘But just to say, in terms of the supply of the vaccine for the children and young people that we vaccinate generally, and for the vaccination programme I’m standing up, we’ve got plenty of supply. People do not need to buy a vaccine privately, even though, inevitably, some people are choosing to do so.’

Boots has implemented a queuing system for customers to enter the vaccination service page of its website, with a warning that demand for its menB jab is currently high.

Superdrug has also created a waiting list for the vaccine, with a note on its website informing customers of a ‘national shortage’. It said it is ‘working with suppliers to access further stock’.

Meanwhile student Annabelle Mackay revealed she had been partying at Club Chemistry on March 4 into the early hours of March 5 before falling gravely ill.

The 21-year-old law undergraduate was left blind and unable to walk after contracting meningitis B following her birthday celebrations. She collapsed at her home in Canterbury as her condition rapidly worsened.

Unable to see, move or speak by the time she reached urgent care, she survived only because her housemates acted quickly – carrying her to a car after her mother, on the phone, realised something was dangerously wrong.

Doctors later confirmed the diagnosis, with Miss Mackay saying her body had already begun to shut down, reported The Sun.

Trish Mannes, UKHSA regional deputy director for the South East, said today: ‘Around 2,500 doses of antibiotics have now been administered across sites in Kent and we continue to encourage close contacts to come forward for the treatment.

‘This includes those offered at the University of Kent and anyone who visited Club Chemistry between March 5 to 7.

‘This is the main intervention that will help protect people and halt the spread of the outbreak.

‘As a further precaution and together with the NHS, we are beginning to roll out a targeted MenB vaccination programme.

‘This will initially be offered to 5,000 university of Kent students resident at the Canterbury campus, with the possibility that it may be extended, as it is kept under continual review.

‘If you think you may have symptoms of meningitis, don’t hesitate to seek medical help by contacting your GP or calling NHS 111. Seeking early treatment can save lives.’

The UKHSA also insisted antibiotics ‘remain the most effective treatment to limit the spread’ of meningitis.

It said: ‘GPs across the country will today be advised to prescribe antibiotics to anyone who visited Club Chemistry between 5 to 7 March and to University of Kent students, if they have been asked to seek preventative treatment.

‘This is so that anyone who has travelled home, or away from Kent, can easily access this important preventative treatment close to them.

‘Given the severity of the outbreak, and as an additional precautionary measure, a targeted vaccination programme will begin, starting with students that are residents of the Canterbury campus halls of residence at the University of Kent who will be contacted directly.

‘Initially, it’s expected that up to 5,000 students will be contacted and offered the vaccine. UKHSA will continue to assess ongoing risk to other populations and the programme may be extended.’

A meeting of local Integrated Care Board officials and UKHSA regional staff will take place this morning, with an announcement expected later on the vaccine rollout.

The UKHSA stressed there are plenty of menB vaccines available for the NHS to use, adding: ‘There are sufficient menB vaccine stocks. We will work with local resilience partners to ensure effective distribution.’

Health officials stressed that people should not skip antibiotics if prescribed them, with a single tablet of Ciprofloxacin reducing the risk of meningitis in a household by about 80 per cent to 90 per cent.

Nala-Rose’s parents, Danielle Trott and Nick Fletcher, said she had been vaccinated, but they do not know which strain she has contracted, adding that they had not been in Canterbury before she fell ill.

They added: ‘Nothing can truly prepare you for the pain and fear that comes with what we’ve been living through, and are still living through.

‘Nala-Rose is still very poorly and remains in intensive care. We already know she will be left with lasting difficulties for the rest of her life, and that’s something we’re only beginning to come to terms with.’

The UKHSA came under fire in the House of Commons for its slow response and handling of the crisis, which has been traced to events at the popular student nightclub between March 5 and 7. 

Dr Thomas Waite, deputy chief medical officer for England, said yesterday: ‘This is by far the quickest growing outbreak I’ve ever seen in my career, and I think probably any of us have seen of meningitis for a very long time.

‘While it remains an outbreak that is having its consequences in Kent, it is obviously of national significance.’

UKHSA chief executive Susan Hopkins added: ‘This looks like a super spreader event with ongoing spread within the halls of residents in the universities. There will have been some parties particularly around this so there will have been lots of social mixing.

‘I can’t yet say where the initial infection came from, how it’s got into this cohort, and why it’s created such an explosive amount of infections.

‘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.

‘Sadly, meningitis with meningococcal bacteria has got a case fatality rate anywhere between one in 20 to actually one in five people, depending on their underlying immune status.’

The declaration of a national incident allows authorities and emergency services to better co-ordinate their responses.

Louise Jones-Roberts, the owner of Club Chemistry, said a UKHSA employee alerted her to the outbreak on Instagram only on Sunday after she had unwittingly opened the doors as normal over the weekend, welcoming hundreds of revellers.

Ms Jones-Roberts told the Daily Mail: ‘We assumed the case related to this weekend just gone, it was only when I pushed them quite a lot that they clarified that it actually dated back to March 5.’

She has closed Club Chemistry until further notice.

Ms Jones-Roberts said all 94 of her staff had been given the drugs after one employee was admitted to hospital with meningitis on Sunday.

The club was alerted that infected students had been at the venue and are working with officials to trace more than 2,000 revellers who may have been exposed.

Student Ingi Pickering, 22, who queued for antibiotics after socialising over the weekend, said she would have ‘stayed in’ if the public had been alerted when the first cases emerged.

She added: ‘The initial communication was awful.’

MPs questioned why the public were warned of the outbreak only on Sunday evening – two days after the first case emerged – while schools with infected pupils were told only when they opened on Monday.

Mr Streeting said he was ‘confident’ the UKHSA acted as quickly and as comprehensively as possible but promised to look at the ‘handling of the UKHSA response at every point’ once the crisis is over.

He added: ‘This is an unprecedented outbreak. It is also a rapidly developing situation.’ 

Mr Streeting said French authorities had alerted the UKHSA to a confirmed case in a student who had attended the University of Kent.

Four schools across Kent now have 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.

Laboratory scientists are urgently trying to work out if the spread is caused by a possible mutant strain of menB.

All 5,000 students living at the University of Kent’s Canterbury halls are now being urged to collect emergency antibiotics.

The preventive drug had initially been reserved for students who lived in two specific blocks at the campus as well as anyone who had visited a local nightclub earlier this month.

Officials fighting to contain the deadly disease made 11,000 doses of the antibiotics available to all resident students at the campus yesterday.

Due to the severity of the outbreak, a targeted vaccination programme for students living in halls will also be rolled out over the coming days.

A spokesman for the university said: ‘We have contacted all students today to explain that, following advice from public health colleagues, students living in our on-campus university accommodation are being offered precautionary antibiotics.’

They can collect these from the Senate building on the Canterbury campus which has been dishing out doses since Monday.

It comes as a fourth school in the county was put on alert due to a suspected case amid fears the outbreak, which has already claimed two young lives, could spread further.

Highworth Grammar School in Ashford is the latest to confirm a case after a Year 13 pupil was admitted to hospital with suspected meningitis.

Both Norton Knatchbull School, Ashford, and Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys, Canterbury, each have a student already in hospital with the infection.

Anyone who encountered someone with meningitis, as well as those who live on campus or attended Club Chemistry in Canterbury on March 5, 6 or 7 have been urged to take the treatment without delay.

A single course of antibiotics is highly effective in preventing the contraction and spread of this disease in 90 per cent of cases.

There are four centres open in and around Canterbury, including the Gate Clinic at Kent and Canterbury Hospital, where hundreds of people were treated yesterday. A nurse at the clinic, which usually functions as a sexual health centre, said: ‘We have had hundreds of people here today.

‘We are treating anyone who has been up at the university working or who thinks they may have been exposed.’

In scenes reminiscent of the pandemic, visitors are handed masks as they arrive at another site, Westgate Hall – usually a community hall for salsa classes and bake sales, but now a make-shift clinic dishing out doses.

Among those visiting was Ryan Neil, 23, who sought the antibiotics as a precaution after partying at Club Chemistry on March 5.

The Canterbury Christ Church student said: ‘I have not got any symptoms but I thought it would be better to be safe than sorry.’

Fellow student Megan Wood, 21, who was at the nightclub on the same night, said she was also worried about potentially contracting meningitis.

‘I thought I should be safe and take the antibiotics because who knows what we could have picked up at the club?’ she said.

Charlotte Taylor, 23, who studies Cognitive Psychology and Neuropsychology, said everyone at the University of Kent is frightened.

‘There’s so much mixed messaging going around campus at the moment and it’s not a nice place to be right now.

‘I didn’t go to the club but everyone at university is so connected I thought it would be better to come here and get the antibiotics.’