Case study: Managing a meningococcal B outbreak at a university

Abstract

During the end of March and early April 2017, three University of Surrey students were confirmed as having contracted meningococcal B. The three cases were declared a cluster by Public Health England (PHE) and led to an urgent multi-agency response to protect 4,296 students in university residences identified as being at risk. This case study shows how the university had to arrange and communicate the need for two separate vaccinations, four weeks apart to more than 4,200 students. This timescale meant overlapping with examinations, and had to be complete before students went home for the summer. The immunisation, carried out by teams from Children and Family Health Surrey would be the largest meningococcal B vaccination programme as the result of an outbreak ever carried out in Europe, and achieved very high coverage rates. University staff worked closely with PHE, health and local partners, meningitis charities and the Students’ Union to set up the vaccinations, while also maintaining business-as-usual operations. The case study shares the learning and highlights some of the challenges involved in responding to protracted contagious and notifiable disease outbreaks.