More meningitis cases confirmed in deadly outbreak

The number of confirmed cases of "invasive" meningitis in Kent has increased from 13 to 15, it has been announced.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), which is investigating the outbreak in the Canterbury area that has left two young people dead, said all cases required hospital admission.

It comes as a father said his family was "beyond devastated" by the death of his 18-year-old daughter Juliette, a sixth form pupil at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School in Faversham, on Saturday.

He said the family had "no words to express their loss".

A 21-year-old University of Kent student is the second person to have died.

Four of the meningitis cases are confirmed to be meningitis B (MenB), according to the UKHSA.

MenB is the most common cause of meningococcal meningitis in the UK, but routine vaccinations were only rolled out in 2015, meaning the current generation of students and others in their late teens are not covered.

Dr Leyla Hannbeck, of the Independent Pharmacies Association, said pharmacies, particularly in Kent, were seeing a "surge in demand" for private jabs.

But she said "unfortunately" stocks were running out, while some places had none left.

Juliette's head teacher, Amelia McIlroy, said she was "a genuinely caring and attentive listener, a true friend who listened with warmth, respect and sincere interest to her peers and to our staff".

"In short, she was a lovely girl," she added.

More than 30,000 people across Canterbury have been contacted by UKHSA, which called the outbreak "particularly large" and "unprecedented in recent years".

Prof Anjan Ghosh, director of public health at Kent County Council, said he wanted to reassure people that the outbreak was not like Covid.

"It is not a pandemic where it spreads like wildfire," he told BBC Radio Kent.

"It takes quite a lot of prolonged contact for the bacteria to spread from one person to another."

Students continued to queue to receive "precautionary antibiotics" at the University of Kent on Tuesday morning.

George Doubtfire, who studies film at the university, told the BBC many students were leaving the campus and heading home.

Another student, Crystal MacPherson, said she was planning to stay indoors.

"People have died - it is quite crazy," the 21-year-old added.

Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam, deputy director of immunisation at the UKHSA, told BBC Radio 5 Live the agency's response to the outbreak had been "very swift", after some raised questions about the speed of response.

She said the first cases were identified on Saturday.

The initial cases "were taken extremely seriously", she added, with public health teams immediately "identifying the closest contacts who would benefit from preventative antibiotics".

Amirthalingam said the pace of this outbreak was "certainly unusual", with several cases appearing in a short period of time.

The outbreak is thought to be linked to a nightclub event in Canterbury, with the UKHSA urging anyone who visited Club Chemistry on 5, 6 or 7 March to "come forward for preventative antibiotic treatment as a precautionary measure".

The University of Kent has said its campus will remain open, despite all scheduled assessments for the next few days being cancelled.

Antibiotics will also be available from 08:30 GMT at the Gate Clinic at Kent and Canterbury Hospital, Westgate Hall in Canterbury and the Carey Building at Thanet Hub in Westwood.

The charity Meningitis Now has called for teenagers and young people to be vaccinated against MenB on the NHS.

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