A&E under pressure as scientists tell Wes Streeting to dial down rhetoric over meningitis outbreak

Doctors have described packed waiting rooms and difficult decisions over who should be given precautionary antibiotics, as families rush to hospital fearing they may have been exposed to the infection linked to around 20 confirmed cases in the Canterbury area, with two deaths, including a University of Kent student and a Year 13 pupil from Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School in Faversham.

The news has led to growing numbers of students being turned away from pharmacies, which have now run out of supplies of the meningitis B vaccine, the source of some of the infections.

Professor Carl Heneghan said this is even though vaccination is not used as an immediate response in outbreaks and does not provide instant protection.

He and Dr Tom Jefferson, from Oxford University’s Centre for Evidence Based Medicine, said Wes Streeting’s recent comments describing the outbreak as an “unprecedented” risk, frightening families and students at a time when calm, targeted public-health action is needed.

Professor Heneghan said such "rhetoric" could even help spread the disease as students flee to different parts of Britain to get away from the epicentre of the outbreak.

The urgent care GP said while the outbreak was not "unprecedented", it was “unusual” because of how quickly cases have appeared.

Writing on their Substack, the scientists said similar meningitis clusters have occurred in the UK in the past, particularly among students and young people living in close contact.

They also said public health investigations have now discovered 10 of the 20 cases were contracted in the Chemistry nightclub. They urged ministers and public-health officials to ensure proper field investigations are carried out into exactly what apparently made this a “superspreader” venue.

Using UK Health Security Agency surveillance reports covering the period from 2010 to 2025, the pair say overall meningococcal cases in England have fallen sharply over the past decade.

According to their analysis, annual cases dropped from around 1,915 in 2010 to about 1,010 in 2015, before falling further to below 700 by 2019.

Numbers fell dramatically during the coronavirus pandemic and have since stabilised at roughly 340 to 400 cases per year.

They wrote: “Across all age groups, cases decreased substantially over the decade, with a clear disruption in 2020 and partial recovery thereafter. The researchers say meningitis in the UK now tends to appear in small local clusters rather than nationwide outbreaks. Although overall UK meningitis incidence has fallen since 2010, there have been several notable outbreaks and clusters."

The pair point to previous university-linked clusters in Nottingham, Bristol and Edinburgh between 2015 and 2019, often associated with close-contact living environments such as halls of residence.

In 2015, health officials warned students to get vaccinated after a rise in meningococcal cases linked to the MenW strain, with more than 200 cases recorded that year and 20 deaths.

Their analysis also highlights that meningococcal disease affects age groups differently, with infants at highest risk, followed by teenagers and young adults, while the baseline risk in older adults is very low.

The introduction of the MenB vaccine for babies in 2015 led to a marked fall in cases in young children, but many current students were born before the programme began, and teenagers are only routinely offered the MenACWY vaccine, which does not cover all strains.

Public health teams are continuing to investigate the Kent outbreak, with laboratory testing under way to identify the exact strain and determine whether further vaccination or other measures may be needed.

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