Three meningococcal cases confirmed near Reading, one fatal

A student from Henley College in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, has died from meningococcal disease, while two others are receiving treatment for the infection after three cases were confirmed among young people in the Reading, Berkshire, area, the UK Health Security Agency announced Thursday.

The agency identified the two patients under treatment as pupils from Reading Blue Coat School and Highdown Secondary School and Sixth Form Centre. One case has been confirmed as meningococcal group B, with tests ongoing for the others. Officials stated the strain differs from that involved in a fatal outbreak in Kent in March, which killed two people and required widespread vaccinations and antibiotics.

UKHSA specialists are working with local authorities and National Health Service partners to contact those exposed. Close contacts have received prophylactic antibiotics, and information on symptoms has been distributed to students and parents at the affected schools. No emergency vaccination program has been planned due to the limited number of cases. Schools and the college have advised staff and students to attend as usual unless notified otherwise.

Dr. Rachel Mearkle, a UKHSA consultant...