More than 1,800 Dorset school students given antibiotics against meningitis

More than 1,800 secondary school students have received precautionary antibiotics after three cases of meningitis were confirmed in Dorset, the health protection watchdog has said.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) yesterday reported that there were no new suspected or confirmed cases of the disease, and all three existing cases had been discharged from hospital.

All the cases involved secondary school students, two from Budmouth Academy and the other from Wey Valley Academy, the agency said.

The UKHSA said that 1,800 students at the two schools had received antibiotics out of the 2,500 young people offered them.

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It added that 6,500 young people in Years 7 to 13 or equivalent across Weymouth, Portland and Chickerell will be offered both antibiotics and MenB vaccinations as a precautionary measure.

Dr Beth Smout, UKHSA deputy director, said: ‘We are really pleased to see such high uptake of the antibiotics.

‘Antibiotics are the best course of action if there is a chance you have been exposed to meningococcal bacteria, with MenB vaccination offering longer term protection against becoming seriously ill.

‘Thanks to the swift action from Dorset Council, local partners and NHS staff, over 6,500 young people in the area will be able to access antibiotics, with vaccination to follow in the coming weeks.

‘Thankfully we have seen no further cases of meningitis, but it’s still important to recognise the signs and symptoms.’

Students attending All Saints Academy are also now being offered antibiotics as a precaution, the UKHSA said.

The agency said that anyone eligible for antibiotics but not in full-time education in Weymouth, Portland and Chickerell, can access them between 4pm and 8pm on Tuesday at All Saints Academy.

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Anyone attending Atlantic Academy, Kingston Maurward Academy and Coastland Academy will also be invited for antibiotics and vaccination this week, it added.

Dorset HealthCare and Dorset County Hospital chief nursing officer Dawn Dawson thanked the families, NHS staff and partners who had helped deliver antibiotics to the young people of Weymouth ‘at such speed’.

She added: ‘It has been an amazing multi-agency response, and we continue to work together to make sure that antibiotics and vaccinations reach the remainder of the children and young people in the eligible population this week.’

The UKHSA confirmed that the meningitis cases in Dorset are Meningitis B (MenB) and are the same sub-strain type, but a different sub-strain, to the one detected in the recent deadly outbreak in Kent in which two people died.

But Dr Smout stressed the Dorset cases were not linked to the Kent outbreak.

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In the wake of the Kent outbreak health secretary Wes Streeting said he would be asking the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to ‘re-examine eligibility for meningitis vaccines’.

Symptoms of meningitis can include fever, headache, vomiting, drowsiness, rapid breathing, shivering, and cold hands and feet. Septicaemia can also cause a rash that does not fade when a glass is rolled over it.