Youth Dies, Two Treated for Meningitis in Reading

A young person has died and two others are being treated after cases of meningitis in Reading.

Public Health England has shared information about the infection with students and parents at all affected schools. Officials said the risk to the wider public was low.

Rachel Mearkle, a consultant in health protection, said: "Students and staff will naturally be feeling worried...however meningococcal meningitis requires very close contact to spread and large outbreaks as we saw in Kent recently are thankfully rare."

The UK Health Security Agency said one of the cases has been confirmed as Meningitis B (MenB). It is awaiting further results on the other two.

"Anyone can get meningitis, and around 300 to 400 cases of meningococcal disease are diagnosed in England every year," Mearkle added.

"It needs to be treated quickly so it is important to know the signs and symptoms. They can appear in any order and may not all be present, so seek rapid medical attention if there is ever any concern."

Two people died after an outbreak in Kent, thought to have originated in a Canterbury nightclub, earlier this year.

The UKHSA said a total of 29 confirmed or suspected cases of meningitis were detected after the outbreak in March.