National Guidance on current Meningococcal Outbreak in Kent
These links provide updates on the current outbreak:
NHS England Advice for Primary and Urgent Care
This includes information on antibiotic prophylaxis for specific, defined groups of contacts.
This includes information on current case numbers and UKHSA advice.
This page includes information on the expansion of Men B vaccination to all who have been offered preventative antibiotics as part of the outbreak. These patients can request a vaccination from a local GP surgery, wherever they are in England. This may be the case if they have returned home and not received one from the local Kent vaccination clinic.
There is currently no change to current national guidance for the public health management of bacterial meningitis and meningococcal disease:
- NICE CKS guidance on Meningitis
- UKHSA guidance for Public Health Management of bacterial meningitis and meningococcal disease.
For Severnside IUC clinicians
When assessing an unwell patient on the clinical queue, continue to follow usual assessment processes and NICE guidance.
- Transfer to hospital urgently.
- Inform the receiving hospital that meningitis or meningococcal disease is suspected and that the person will need assessment by a senior clinical decision maker.
- Do not delay transfer to hospital to give antibiotics to people with suspected or strongly suspected bacterial meningitis or meningococcal disease.
- If there is likely to be a clinically significant delay in transfer to hospital for people with strongly suspected bacterial meningitis, give intravenous or intramuscular ceftriaxone or benzylpenicillin outside of hospital.
- For people with strongly suspected meningococcal disease, give intravenous or intramuscular ceftriaxone or benzylpenicillin as soon as possible outside of hospital, unless this will delay transfer to hospital.
- Do not give antibiotics outside of hospital if the person has severe antibiotic allergy to either ceftriaxone or benzylpenicillin.