Meningitis B outbreak in UK .. ( bacterial meningitis, also called meningococcal disease ) .. 2 dead

Goldengirl · 19-03-2026 08:52PM

One of my sons had viral meningitis before/ at start of Covid . It was a very frightening experience for him and all of us .

He was very sick for about a week but recovered well .

Bacterial Meningitis which this strain is , is very dangerous and often people who survive may have had limbs amputated or sustained organ failure due to the septicaemia ( blood poisoning and shock ) which develops .

It is the type that causes the petechial rash (little purple bruises under the skin that don't disappear when you press a glass on them ) .

There is no mention that this is an infection other than in Kent and as it's bacterial it is unlikely to spread outside of the immediate location unless via an infected individual .

adaminho · 20-03-2026 08:38AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124325419#Comment_124325419

The problem is most students are due to go home for the Easter holidays soon and that could spread outside Kent. Already we've seen cases in Faversham and Ashford which are commuter towns. Remember the first cases of Covid here were kids coming back from a school tour.

ceadaoin. · 20-03-2026 09:09AM

From what I understand, this is bacterial meningitis? Its very unlikely to spread without extremely close contact, such as kissing or sharing eating utensils, vapes etc. Given that this outbreak has been traced back to a nightclub, its not surprising that it unfortunately spread since stuff like that is common behaviour when socialising. Are people really trying to make this into another covid scenario? This is extremely unlikely for a variety of reasons.

aero2k · 20-03-2026 10:01AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124325419#Comment_124325419

Claire Byrne has just been talking to Anton Savage about her experience of getting meningitis as a 14 year old. She said she was too out of it to realise how scary it was, particularly for her parents. It will probably be up as a podcast later.

aidanodr · 20-03-2026 10:09PM

Interesting this ..

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/meningitis-strain-menb-outbreak-kent-mutation-b2942488.html

Professor Robin May, chief scientific officer at the UKHSA, explained it was unusual to see such a large number of cases from one single event.

“There are two possible reasons for that. One is that there might be something about the kind of behaviours that individual people are doing,” he told The Times.

“The other possibility is the bacteria itself may have evolved to be better at transmitting.”

aidanodr · 24-03-2026 12:09AM

Wasnt expecting this. Especially with no link to UK

https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-41815628.html

ceadaoin. · 24-03-2026 12:24AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124336036#Comment_124336036

Why not? There are around 60 cases of bacterial meningitis every year in Ireland. They just dont normally make the news

appledrop · 24-03-2026 12:41AM

The thing is viral and bacterial both present same really just that unfortuately the bacterial one usually gets mor serious quickly and sepies can set in etc.

You can still be very sick though with viral meningitis, I was in hospitial for about a week with it and took my body over a month to recover.

aidanodr · 24-03-2026 12:50AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124336062#Comment_124336062

This time, however, Im not a big believer in coincidences .. even knowing, yes of course we get cases annually.

And even so, I am sure parents around the country would be concerned regardless

Yeah Right · 24-03-2026 01:21PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124336084#Comment_124336084

You are the tabloid writers' wet dream.

"Yeah, I know this happens on average once a week over here, but this time I'm certain it's the ~~bears immigrants space hornets Jewish special forces~~ vaccines etc.". Ignoring data and clutching your pearls and worrying about whatever nonsense they can come up with.

Parents of young children are always concerned about this stuff. We listen to the professionals who are trained in these sorts of things, and tend to ignore anonymous posters on fora who put 2 and 2 together to make 7.

myfreespirit · 24-03-2026 02:43PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124336084#Comment_124336084

Perhaps you should have posted this in the Conspiracy forum?

ceadaoin. · 24-03-2026 04:57PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124336084#Comment_124336084

They've said it is unconnected to the UK outbreak though. In what way is it not a coincidence? Do you think something else other than the usual circumstances is causing these cases to arise independent of each other?

I dont live in Ireland but my 14 year old has received several doses of meningococcal vaccine, the most recent being at age 12. From my understanding its older teens and young adults in the UK who wouldn't have been vaccinated as standard against this. I presume the situation is similar in ireland?

astrofool · 24-03-2026 06:07PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124337568#Comment_124337568

Yes, it only became part of the standard schedule here a few years back (I'd like to say about 2017), so anyone born earlier won't have had it by default.

aero2k · 30-03-2026 08:44AM

Carl Heneghan and Tom Jefferson have a series of posts on this on their TTE substack. Apparently some of the initially reported cases were not actually meningitis. Some of the symptoms are non- specific, but given the potential outcomes it makes sense to overdiagnose until meningitis can be ruled out. For some reason they don't tend to follow up the initial reports of outbreaks with a final tally after the dust settles.

Meningitis B outbreak in UK .. ( bacterial meningitis, also called meningococcal disease ) .. 2 dead

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