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Over ten people have been hospitalised in the UK, and students are being urged to take preventative antibiotics, as health officials scramble to contain a deadly meningitis outbreak linked to a nightclub.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has confirmed two deaths in Kent, southeastern England — identified by media as a 21-year-old university student and an 18-year-old schoolgirl.
At least 11 others remain in hospital, with the outbreak traced to Club Chemistry in Canterbury, a large three-storey venue popular among young adults.
The health agency told AFP on Tuesday that “some of the cases have now been identified as group B,” a bacterial strain rarer and more deadly than the viral type.
According to the National Health Service, meningitis B is fatal in roughly one in ten cases. The infection affects the protective membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord and is most common in young children, teenagers, and young adults.
Public health efforts are focusing on the University of Kent, which has about 18,000 students. Some of those hospitalised attend the university, which held a clinic offering antibiotics on Tuesday.
The UKHSA has urged anyone who visited a nightclub in Canterbury between March 5 and 7 to seek preventative antibiotics.
The agency has faced criticism over what some say was a delay in alerting the public. It announced the two deaths on Sunday, two days after being notified of the cases.
UKHSA’s deputy head, Gyatri Amirthalingam, defended the agency’s response, saying it took “urgent action” to identify and inform close contacts of those infected. “I don’t believe there’s been any delay in terms of the public health response,” she said.
Club Chemistry posted on Instagram that one of its staff members is being treated for meningitis, and the venue has closed as a precaution.
