UNIVERSITY students are three times more likely to catch a deadly strain of meningitis, experts have warned.
Meningitis B can be fatal in less than 24 hours if the bacteria enters the bloodstream to cause sepsis.
Experts from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that students who were aged 18 to 24 were 3.5 times more likely to contract meningitis B than their peers who were not in school.
Dr Robert Glatter, an emergency physician with Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said: “Meningitis B is an uncommon but potentially deadly bacterial infection that leads to inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord.”
A meningitis B infection may “also may lead to meningococcal sepsis, or bacteria invading the bloodstream,” added Glatter, who was not part of the study.
“The combination of these factors can make it lethal in less than 24 hours,” he said.
The bacteria that causes meningitis B lives in the nose and throat and can be spread by close contact from coughing, sneezing or kissing – so it’s particularly prevalent among uni students who live in close proximity to each other.
Dr Sarah Mbaeyi from the CDC’s National Center for Immunisation and Respiratory Diseases, who lead the study, identified 166 cases of some form of meningococcal disease (including B, C and Y infections) between 2014 and 2016 among Americans aged 18 to 24.
Of those, 83 were college students.
Among them more than three-quarters of the infections were meningitis B.
This compared with less than 40 percent of the meningitis cases cited among non-college patients.
Dr Mbaeyi urged parents to make sure their children had the meningitis B vaccine.
The findings were published the journal Pediatrics.
FIND OUT MORE What is meningitis, how do you get it, what are the signs and symptoms and what is the meningitis B vaccine trial?
Meningitis can affect anyone, but is most common in babies, young children, teenagers and young adults.
It is the inflammation of the membranes that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord and can be caused by meningococcal bacteria and viral meningitis.
If it is not treated quickly, meningitis can cause life-threatening septicaemia (blood poisoning) and result in permanent damage to the brain or nerves.
Meningitis B is responsible for more than 90 per cent of cases in young children.
The disease is usually passed on from people who carry the virus or bacterial form in their throat or nose, but aren’t ill themselves.
It can be spread through kissing, sneezing, coughing and sharing household items such as toothbrushes or cutlery.
It is thought that the bacteria are able to invade the body more easily via the nose and throat during winter due to recent infection with flu virus.
Deadly signs you need to know…
The symptoms of meningitis develop suddenly and include:
- A high fever over 37.5 degrees – the average human temperature
- being sick
- a headache
- a blotchy rash that doesn’t fade when a glass is rolled over it
- stiffness, especially in the neck
- sensitivity to bright lights
- drowsiness, irritability or lack of energy
- cold hands and feet
- seizures
The classic rash associated with meningitis usually looks like small, red pinpricks at first.
But it will spread over the body and turn into red or purple blotches.
If you press the side of a glass firmly against the skin where the rash is and it does not fade, it is a sign of blood poisoning and you should get medical help immediately.
The Meningitis Research Foundation has warned the symptoms can easily be mistaken for a hangover.
Since 2015 the meningitis B vaccine has been available to babies in the UK but the Government has previously ruled out offering the vaccine to all children because it is uncommon later in life.
Campaigners have called for it to be rolled out to other age groups as well.
It is being trialled among teenagers in the UK to see if the spread of the bug can be prevented.
MORE ON MENINGITIS
What is the meningitis B vaccine trial?
In 2018, experts at the University of Oxford started recruiting thousands of teenagers to research whether vaccinating 16-18-year-olds can prevent the spread of the bug.
It is funded by the National Institute for Health Research, and the teens will either get two MenB vaccine doses, or be used as control subjects.
They will have throat swabs taken 12 months apart to see whether the vaccination will stop bacteria in the back of the throat causing meningitis.
The study will take between a year and 18 months, and will work around school holidays and exams.
Dr Matthew Snape, from the Oxford Vaccine Group told the BBC: “We are doing the study to help us understand whether an immunisation campaign in teenagers would help us to protect the whole community.”
If the trial is successful, Claire Donovan, head of research and information as Meningitis Now said: “potentially vaccinating that age group will help protect the rest of the nation”.
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