More than 20 people, most of them students, were infected during the meningitis B outbreak in Kent, Great Britain, in March. All sought treatment in hospital, nine of them ended up in intensive care, while two died.
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DNA analyses of the bacterium, conducted by experts from the UK Health Security Agency and the University of Oxford, helped explain the severity of the situation.
According to researchers, the bacteria responsible had acquired genetic material from other microorganisms that naturally occur in the throats of some people. This change led to the emergence of a new variant, which spread rapidly and may have had a greater ability to cause severe disease, particularly among young people who frequented nightclubs.
The outbreak was linked to a nightclub in Canterbury. Close contact among young people, including kissing and sharing drinks or e-cigarettes, created conditions that favored the spread of the infection.
Experts estimate that such mutations in bacteria are rare and unpredictable, although they may occur again. They also emphasize that the meningitis vaccine currently offered to young people provides protection against this variant as well.
Following the events in Kent, the authorities launched a vaccination program for young people. The new recommendations provide for the vaccine to be offered to adolescents around the age of 15.
