Health officials increasingly believe they have contained the fatal outbreak of meningitis in Kent, with no cases emerging that are not linked to the original cluster of 20.
In another boost to efforts to contain the infection, the bug that caused it has been identified as a known strain of meningitis B, the Guardian understands.
That should mean that the MenB vaccine offered to 5,000 students living in University of Kent halls of residence in Canterbury, hundreds of whom received it on Wednesday, will prove a good match.
There is growing confidence among the NHS, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and county council public health staff tackling the outbreak that the people infected in Kent, many of whom visited a nightclub on 5, 6 or 7 March, have not passed it on to anyone outside the area.
“All cases to date are linked to the current outbreak in Kent,” a UKHSA spokesperson said.
One of the 20 known cases became unwell in London and another in France, but both had visited Canterbury shortly beforehand.
One official involved in the multi-agency response said: “We may have contained it. There are no cases popping up elsewhere that we know of – no cases that we know of outside the cluster – or not yet anyway.
“We are rolling out a vaccine and antibiotics and tracing contacts. So there’s nothing we’re not doing.”
An official from a different organisation said that what they described as UKHSA’s prompt action last weekend after it was first alerted to the outbreak appeared to have paid dividends, particularly its immediate provision of antibiotics to people in Canterbury.
Another university in the city confirmed a case of meningitis on Wednesday. The student at Canterbury Christ Church is believed to be a man who was at the nightclub and part of the 20 known cases. The known cases until now were from the University of Kent.
Canterbury Christ Church University said in a statement: “We have reached out to support the individual directly and student wellbeing and support are reaching out and making themselves available to support fellow students more widely.
“We have followed UKHSA advice and informed the limited number of close contacts of the individual that they should receive precautionary antibiotics, if they have not done so already.”
The health secretary, Wes Streeting, denied that supplies of the MenB vaccine are running short after a surge in worried parents seeking to get their children jabbed. “There is actually plenty of stock of vaccine supply in the country,” he said.
But pharmacy organisations challenged his remarks. “Pharmacies are being inundated by requests from concerned patients for MenB vaccination, which the vast majority of our members across the country have no stock currently available to fulfil,” said Olivier Picard, the chair of the National Pharmacy Association (NPA).
Pharmacies’ inability to fulfil requests for MenB jabs has led to the NPA receiving “some reports of abuse and intimidation aimed at pharmacy staff during this period from a small minority of patients, which is absolutely unacceptable”, he said.
Responding to calls from meningitis charities and organisations such as the National Union of Students for under-18s and young adults to be offered a MenB jab, Streeting has asked the advisory Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation to re-examine whether eligibility currently limited to babies, should be extended.
He said he would approach potential wider availability “in an evidence-based way”
“I don’t want to do it in a kneejerk way. It’s right that these are clinically-led decisions rather than political decisions,” he said.
The UKHSA issued an urgent alert to all NHS doctors in England on Wednesday advising them of the meningitis symptoms to look for and to wear personal protective equipment before giving patients they suspect of having the disease antibiotics. The illness in the Kent outbreak “has been severe, with rapid deterioration”, it said.
Streeting stressed that the risk of contracting meningitis from someone infected was very low and depended on close personal contact, such as sharing vapes or drinks, or kissing.
