Family ‘beyond devastated’ after meningitis death

A father has said his family is “beyond devastated” by the death of his 18-year-old daughter following a meningitis outbreak in Kent.

Juliette, a sixth form pupil at Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School in Faversham, died from the illness on Saturday.

Her dad said the family had “no words to express their loss”.

It comes as the number of confirmed cases from the outbreak of “invasive” meningitis in the Canterbury area has increased from 13 to 15.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), which is coordinating the response, said all cases required hospital admission.

A 21-year-old University of Kent student has also died from meningitis.

Four of the cases are confirmed to be meningitis B, 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.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said on Tuesday that “given the severity of the situation” there will be a “targeted vaccination programme” for students at the University of Kent.

“This is an unprecedented outbreak,” he added. “It is also a rapidly developing situation.”

The government has said jabs may be offered more widely as the UKHSA assesses ongoing risk to other populations.

More than 30,000 people across Canterbury have been contacted by UKHSA, which called the outbreak “particularly large”.

Prof Anjan Ghosh, director of public health at Kent County Council, said he wanted to reassure the public 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.”

The government is not advising schools to close, although some in parts of Kent have shut.

‘It is crazy’

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

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 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.

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 between 5 and 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.