Deaths were ‘avoidable’
An official report on last year’s meningitis outbreak at Cardiff University has suggested that the deaths of two 19-year-old students could have been avoided had mass vaccination been implemented, and has suggested a review of national guidelines.
Last year, seven students contracted meningitis between October and December. The first made a full recovery. The second case occurred four weeks and one day later, in the same hall of residence. Since national guidelines state that cases four weeks apart are unconnected, the case was treated as a separate incident, and emergency vaccinations were not administered. Only after several more occurrences of meningitis came to light were inoculations were given to more than 1,000 students. Tests have since established that all the cases in Cardiff were caused by the same strain of meningitis bacterium, strongly indicating that they were connected.
One senior health official stated "My conscience is clear on this one. I don’t believe any of the decisions made by the outbreak control team were wrong. I believe we made the right decisions at the time." He went on to suggest that a rethink of the guidelines might be necessary, particularly regarding what is defined as "close contact". He also emphasised that many people’s understanding of the development and spread of meningitis is still primitive. It is believed that meningitis is contagious only through close contact, although none of the students affected were close friends.
Meanwhile, Cardiff University students expressed concerns about the lack of communication between the University and the student population, and a lack of up to date information.
The meningitis research foundation is funding various projects at St. Mary’s to investigate why the vast majority of the population seem immune to meningitis, while a few are susceptible and become seriously ill when they come into contact with the infection.
The staff of Imperial College’s health centre stress that there have been no cases of meningitis at IC.
