\n<\/p>\n
Health officials have confirmed that meningitis B is the strain identified in some of the cases in Kent, in an outbreak that has killed two young people and has left 11 others in hospital.<\/p>\n
Meningitis is an infection of the protective lining of the brain and spinal cord. It is caused by different bacteria and viruses. Meningitis B, known as MenB, is the most common form of invasive meningococcal disease. It is caused by the Neisseria meningitidis<\/em> <\/em>bacteria, also known as the meningococcus.<\/p>\n This bacteria usually lives harmlessly in people\u2019s throats, but can cause life-threatening disease if it gets into the blood or spinal fluid.<\/p>\n MenB can progress rapidly. Early symptoms are not always present, but can include a sudden high fever, a stiff neck, severe and worsening headache and a rash that does not fade when pressed with a glass. They can also include aversion to bright lights, vomiting and diarrhoea, seizures, joint and muscle pain, delirium and extreme sleepiness.<\/p>\n MenB can be fatal. The meningococcal bacteria can cause inflammation of the lining of the brain and septicaemia, which can rapidly lead to sepsis. If caught early and treated with antibiotics, most people will make a full recovery. But about one in 10 people infected die, and it can cause long-term complications such as hearing loss, amputation, epilepsy or learning disabilities.<\/p>\n MenB is spread by prolonged and close contact \u2013 typically through coughing, sneezing and kissing. According to Prof Paul Hunter at the Norwich School of Medicine, University of East Anglia, teenagers\u2019 increased risk is often associated with moving away from home and living in crowded conditions.<\/p>\n \u201cAbout 10% of people carry the bacteria at any one time and this is even higher in adolescents,\u201d he said. \u201cThe infection is spread between people during close contact such as living in the same household or whilst kissing (mouth to mouth).\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cThere is a lag from exposure to when people get ill, which is typically under a week, but can be as long as 10 days.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you had a single case, you would tend to only contact the family and give antibiotics to them. If you had two cases in a class, in a school, you would give antibiotics to the whole class. If you had two cases in a school, not in the same class, you would give antibiotics to the whole school.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you realise you have a significant problem, getting antibiotics into people is important.\u00a0You can go from being mildly ill walking around to being dead in less than a day.\u201d<\/p>\n Hunter said that\u00a0seeing a cluster of cases was not unusual, with 300-400 cases of invasive meningitis typically recorded in a year. \u201cWe see clusters all the time,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat\u2019s unusual is the size of this cluster. That\u2019s the scary thing.\u201d<\/p>\n It is not clear what has led to such a large outbreak. \u201cIt could be that there is a new more virulent strain, or due to what was happening at the nightclub,\u201d Hunter said.<\/p>\n If you share a vape you transfer saliva between you. It is therefore\u00a0considered a\u00a0high-risk for transmitting\u00a0bacteria and viruses, alongside sharing toothbrushes or drinks,\u00a0because vapes come into direct contact with the mouth.\u00a0One\u00a0mother of\u00a0a girl\u00a0in hospital with the disease said she\u00a0suspected her daughter caught it from a vape.<\/p>\n Simon Williams, public health researcher and lecturer in the\u00a0College of Human and Health Sciences at Swansea University, said: \u201cSharing vapes would be one way in which the meningitis bacteria could be spread.\u00a0Generally, this disease is spread via\u00a0respiratory droplets\u00a0– which could include kissing, or sharing drinks, vapes or also coughing and sneezing, and being in very close contact.\u00a0Things like close contact singing and talking also might spread it as one might find in crowded indoor settings like nightclubs \u2013 provided infected respiratory droplets are passed between people. This is part of why we see cases at settings like university halls and nightclubs.\u201d<\/p>\n Gayatri Amirthalingam, the deputy director of the immunisation and vaccine preventable diseases at the UK Health\u00a0Security Agency (UKHSA), told BBC Radio 5 Live that\u00a0people should not share vapes.<\/p>\n \u201cSharing anything that goes in your mouth is a potential risk factor for transmitting a mouth-living bacteria. So for definite I would be not recommending vape sharing in general from a hygiene point of view. But also in this context it seems an easy enough thing to stop doing, even if we\u2019re not sure if it was causative in this case.\u201d<\/p>\n Treatment for meningitis includes antibiotics, intravenous fluids, oxygen if there are breathing difficulties, and in some cases steroid medication to prevent swelling around the brain.<\/p>\n Since 2015, the MenB vaccine is offered to babies at eight weeks, with a second dose at 12 weeks and booster at one year. Other routine childhood jabs, including the 6-in-1 and pneumococcal vaccines, can protect against meningitis. The MenACWY vaccine, which covers four other meningococcal groups,\u00a0is offered to teenagers in school years 9 and 10, and can be given until the age of 25. <\/em>But teenagers born before 2015 are unvaccinated against MenB.<\/p>\n The Joint Committee on Vaccines and Immunisation committee recommends which vaccinations should be given to which people, based on latest research on prevalence, effectiveness of the vaccine and cost effectiveness.<\/p>\n Despite MenB accounting for 80% of cases of invasive meningococcal disease, until now, the JCVI has not deemed MenB vaccination to be cost-effective for teenagers because it doesn\u2019t prevent the bacteria from spreading from one person to another, it doesn\u2019t target against all the different B bacteria strains and doesn\u2019t protect for particularly long either.\u00a0<\/p>\n Meningitis Now says young people should be vaccinated against meningitis B on the NHS, with the most at risk inoculated first, followed by a booster programme for teenagers from 2030. Private jabs should also be made more affordable, it argues. Private meningitis B vaccinations cost between \u00a3100 and \u00a3120 a dose in the UK, with a full two-dose course costing about \u00a3200-\u00a3240. Boots offers two doses for \u00a3220.<\/p>\n Some experts believe that catchup jabs could help reduce the risk of further outbreaks. Prof Emma Wall, clinical research group leader at the Francis Crick Institute, and clinical professor of infectious diseases at the Blizard Institute, QMUL, said: \u201cVaccination can be a very useful tool to reduce onward transmission of this bacteria and reduce the risk of a secondary outbreak in students or related communities. Protection from the vaccine is rapid.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The UKHSA says that anyone who becomes unwell with symptoms of meningitis and septicaemia should seek medical help urgently at the closest A&E or by dialling 999. Those who attended Club Chemistry in Canterbury between 5 and 7 March should come forward for antibiotic treatment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Health officials have confirmed that meningitis B is the strain identified in some of the cases in Kent, in an outbreak that has killed two young people and has left 11 others in hospital. What is meningitis B? Meningitis is an infection of the protective lining of the brain and spinal cord. It is caused<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[18004,5994,4340,2133],"class_list":{"0":"post-46955","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-meningitis","9":"tag-spread","10":"tag-symptoms","11":"tag-vaccine"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/46956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What are the symptoms?<\/h2>\n
How serious is it?<\/h2>\n
How contagious is it?<\/h2>\n
Can you get MenB from\u00a0 sharing a vape?<\/h2>\n
How is it treated?<\/h2>\n
Is there a vaccine?<\/h2>\n
Why haven\u2019t teenagers been vaccinated?<\/h2>\n
Should teenagers living near the Kent outbreak be vaccinated?<\/h2>\n
What should you do if you think you\u2019ve been exposed to MenB?<\/h2>\n