I caught meningitis at university - we were lucky there was no outbreak

A student who caught meningitis during his first year at university says he feels lucky there was not an outbreak when he was ill.

Ross Simpson, 21, was at the University of Glasgow in January 2023 when he caught meningitis B (MenB) after attending an 18th birthday party.

Two students have died and 27 have contracted the disease during an ongoing outbreak at the University of Kent.

Public Health Scotland said there are currently no cases of meningitis linked to this outbreak in Scotland but they are remaining vigilant.

Ross, now in his third year of university, told BBC Scotland News: "We were very lucky that in my case, me and the other person, we got it and that was it, it was contained."

The computer science student said his symptoms did not start for about a week after he attended a small party, and he initially thought they were signs of carbon monoxide poisoning.

He said it started with a persistent headache, but his symptoms moved in an "aggressive nature" and soon involved a loss of appetite, hot and cold flushes and sensitivity to light.

Vomiting and a rash came later. Luckily, his mum recognised the symptoms and rushed him to hospital.

The 21-year-old student, who also developed sepsis, spent the next 10 days in intensive care before his condition began to improve.

The local health board was able to issue emergency vaccines to people who he had been in close contact with, preventing further spread.

Ross has felt sadness seeing the situation unfold at the University of Kent - but nevertheless feels a sense of relief that his own experience was not worse.

He continued: "It's definitely kind of weird when you look at the faces of the people that have passed away, they were the same age as me.

"When you look at one case and look at another, one person has passed, one person hasn't there's a really, very fine line."

He warned his fellow students against sharing drinks and vapes on nights out and said anyone with concerns should seek medical help.

Last year in Scotland there was around 49 cases of meningitis, around 70% of which were cases of MenB.

Professor Jim McMenamin from Public Health Scotland said: "We've not seen any Scottish cases so far, but we remain very vigilant and our health protection teams across the country are on alert to report as early as possible any information they have and any new cases.

"The risk to the Scottish population is very low but we keep that under continual review."

The UK Health Security Agency are investigating 27 cases of meningitis after the outbreak linked to the Canterbury area of England.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said it was a "deeply difficult" time for the families of those who had died and who were seriously ill.

He said health experts were working to identify close contacts, distribute antibiotics and begin targeted vaccinations.