Overview
- UKHSA reported Thursday that three meningococcal cases in the Reading area involved young people, with Henley College student Lewis Waters dying and two others now in hospital.
- The surviving patients attend Reading Blue Coat School and Highdown Secondary School and are receiving care at Royal Berkshire Hospital.
- One case has been confirmed as meningitis B, and UKHSA says testing indicates it is a different strain from the fatal Kent outbreak in March.
- Health teams are tracing close contacts, offering precautionary antibiotics, and sharing symptom guidance with affected schools while saying the wider public risk remains low and no local mass vaccination is planned.
- Calls for a broader MenB catch‑up for older teens are growing, with Henley MP Freddie van Mierlo urging rapid vaccine procurement as many born before 2015 missed routine MenB shots.