The number of cases of meningitis linked to an outbreak from a Kent nightclub has risen to 29, up from 27.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said today that as of yesterday, this includes 18 laboratory cases and 11 patients under investigation.
Of the 18 patients, 13 have been infected with a rare but deadly strain of the disease called meningococcal group B (MenB).
Two people – a University of Kent student and a sixth-form student in Faversham, about 10 miles from Canterbury – have died.
Cases connected to the club outbreak include students at four schools in Kent and a university student at a video games college in London.
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The authorities in France have reported a case in that country in a person who attended the University of Kent.
Health officals stresed that the vaccine being offered in Kent ‘should provide protection against the strain identified’.
Experts cautioned to Metro yesterday that while cases will climb, they will all likely stem from the same infection window of early March.
It has been linked to Club Chemistry, a venue popular with University of Kent and local college students.
The club, which has since temporarily shut, is encouaging people to get the jab typically only offered to babies.
‘Whilst some young people in Canterbury are now being offered the MenB vaccination, there are thousands of young people across our city and our country who are not,’ Club Chemistry said on Facebook today.
‘This has to change.’
Adam Finn, professor emeritus of Paediatrics at the University of Bristol, said that as ‘unusual’ as this fast-spreading outbreak is, it won’t be a repeat of the global corianvirus pandemic.
‘The combination of behaviour change and antibiotics is going to lead to a tailing off of secondary cases,’ he told Metro.
‘The vaccination programme will add another layer of protection.
‘The public health authorities have been responding rapidly, effectively and appropriately and people should follow their advice and present to medical care promptly if they experience any of the symptoms described in that advice.’
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