Health authorities in Britain are rushing to contain a deadly outbreak of a form of bacterial meningitis called meningococcal meningitis, launching a massive antibiotic and vaccination campaign for the thousands of people affected, many of whom are students.
The contagious infection was first discovered among young people at the University of Kent in England. The disease has since quickly spread to other students and people in the region: As of March 19, thousands of people had been contacted by health authorities about their potential exposure to the disease, at least 29 people had confirmed or suspected infections, and two had died, according to the UK Health Security Agency.
Treating susceptible people with antibiotics before symptoms appear can help quickly stop outbreaks of bacterial meningitis. But experts say routine meningitis vaccination for high-risk groups, including young adults who congregate in settings like college campuses, is key to preventing such dangerous transmission in the first place.
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“This outbreak is a very unusual event,” says William Schaffner, an infectious disease physician at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. For context, the UK had 378 confirmed cases of the infection that causes meningococcal meningitis from July 2024 to June 2025; The US reported 503 confirmed and probable cases in 2024. “It is very impressive that our extensive vaccination programs in the US and in the UK have reduced the incidence of this very frightening disease very significantly in our populations,” he says.
Yet the vaccines designed to curb this form of bacterial meningitis have recently been called into question in the US by the Trump administration. In January, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rolled back a recommendation that all children receive a meningococcal meningitis vaccine course as part of their routine childhood vaccines. However, a recent US District Court has temporarily blocked this decision. The Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, did not immediately respond Scientific American‘questions regarding the current status of vaccine recommendations for meningitis.
Scientific American spoke to infectious disease experts about the dangers of bacterial meningitis and how vaccination can help protect against the disease and outbreaks.
What is bacterial meningitis?
Meningitis is inflammation of the membranes called meninges that surround the brain and spinal cord. It can be caused by bacteria, fungi, viruses and autoimmune diseases, explains Nicholas Van Sickels, medical director of the infection prevention and control program at the University of Kentucky HealthCare.
“In an outbreak setting, what we’re usually talking about is bacterial meningitis,” he says. “You often hear about that in situations like what’s happening in England, where you have a university campus and often very healthy individuals present who become very, very ill within a short period of time – and someone dies.”
Bacterial meningitis is usually caused by meningococcal disease, an infection with the bacteria Neisseria meningitidiswhich can be transmitted through aerosolized droplets and close personal contact. It is highly contagious in closed environments such as college dormitories, military bunks, or detention centers. Initial symptoms may include fever, headache, rapid breathing and chills. Infected people may also develop a red or purple rash that does not go away with pressure. The disease can progress very quickly, spreading to the cerebral spinal fluid and into the brain. “The patient may become drowsy and even confused and then fall into a coma,” says Schaffner.
The bacteria can also infiltrate the blood and inflame the blood vessels, which can cause lasting damage even in people who recover from the initial infection.
“Even if the infection is well treated, there is so much inflammation that they can have long-term disabilities as a consequence,” says Schaffner. “Some people have hearing difficulties. Sometimes you get gangrene, and amputations become necessary.”
How is bacterial meningitis treated or prevented?
Antibiotics can treat bacterial meningitis, and they are most effective when taken very early in an infection, says Schaffner. Currently, UK health authorities are handing out thousands of doses of antibiotics – a first-line measure – to students who have been exposed or are at high risk of the disease. “That should bring this outbreak to an end,” says Schaffner. But vaccines are key to reducing the risk of these outbreaks in the future, he adds.
Two different types of meningococcal vaccines are available in both the UK and the US: MenACWY and MenB. The letters stand for different strains of N. meningitidis every vaccine covers. Strains A, C, W and Y are generally more common than strain B.
In the UK, MenACWY vaccines are recommended for teenagers aged around 14 years. Health authorities also recommend a first dose of the MenB vaccine for infants at eight weeks of age, a second dose at 12 weeks and a booster at one year. The outbreak in Kent was driven by the rarer B strain. That’s why, in addition to distributing antibiotics, UK health officials have pushed for a targeted MenB vaccine campaign for students in the Kent area to prevent future spread.
In the United States, cases of meningococcal disease have been on the rise since 2021, with a particular increase in strain Y cases, according to the CDC. Currently, the agency recommends that immunocompromised children aged 16 years and older receive a shot of the MenB vaccine, and that other children in this age group receive it only on a shared clinical decision basis.
Given the rare presence of B strains, the shot is optional but available to those who decide with a clinician that their child should get it, Schaffner says. “More and more parents are vaccinating their children against meningitis B, especially before they go to college, because they don’t want to be in a situation where there is easy transmission of this bug.”
The CDC previously recommended that all children receive two doses of MenACWY—the first dose between ages 11 and 12 and a booster at age 16. But in January, the agency changed its recommendation to make the MenACWY vaccine optional under shared clinical decision-making for most children. The future of this change is unclear as a legal challenge to it continues.
Both the MenB and MenACWY vaccines are very safe and effective in preventing disease, Van Sickels says, with the highest levels of protection occurring within about five years of MenACWY vaccination and about one to two years after MenB vaccination. This is why the timing of the first vaccination and subsequent boosters is important to reach “the sweet spot”, so immunity is greatest when children are at higher risk, says Van Sickels. Some American colleges require students to receive both vaccines if they are going to live in dormitories. MenACWY meningococcal vaccine requirements exist for the US military.
“Our national vaccination campaign with the (four-strain MenACWY vaccine) has been a resounding success,” says Schaffner. “It’s another example of how routine, widespread vaccination has had a profound effect on really dramatically reducing the incidence of what was once an extreme, usually feared infection.”
