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Two dead, 11 others infected in meningitis outbreak linked to English university
Two young people have died amid an outbreak of invasive meningococcal disease in southern England, with 11 other cases also confirmed.
Meningitis cases rise in major Midwestern city, prompting public health alert
Chicago health officials issue urgent alert after seven meningococcal disease cases, including two deaths. Know the symptoms and warning signs.
Health agency names two schools affected by Berkshire meningitis outbreak
Students from Reading Blue Coat school, and Highdown secondary school and Sixth Form Centre receiving treatment
Five new cases of meningitis in Kent, UK Health Security Agency confirms
Two people have died in the outbreak - a 21-year-old university student and Juliette, a sixth form pupil at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School in Faversham.
UK health official says too soon to declare Kent meningitis outbreak contained
A British health official said on Thursday it was too soon to declare that a meningitis outbreak in southeast England has been contained, as authorities reported seven new cases of the disease that has killed two people so far.
Doctors reunite with one-year-old after saving her life
Thirteen-month-old Aurora Thomas suffered from E. coli meningitis shortly after she was born.
Tooth decay with a side of bacterial meningitis: Louisiana GOP rages against public health
Despite a slew of health-related problems facing Louisianans — like heart disease, diabetes, obesity, reduced access to medical care, and high maternal and infant mortality rates — some GOP lawmakers
2 teens killed, more than a dozen sick after meningitis outbreak in UK
Kent meningitis outbreak has been contained, health officials believe
There is growing confidence that the 20 people diagnosed with the illness have not infected anyone outside the area
Panama: Haemophilus influenzae meningitis case reported in Veraguas Health Region
The Veraguas Health Region, located in the central-western region of Panama, confirmed a case of meningitis caused by the Haemophilus influenzae bacteria in a 12-year-old student from La Primavera School, diagnosed on July 29. The patient remains hospitalized, is receiving appropriate treatment, and is in stable clinical condition. The regional health director of Veraguas, Xavier A. Torres Domínguez, reported that, once the diagnosis was confirmed, the Ministry of Health (Minsa), in coordination with the Social Security Fund (CSS), immediately activated the epidemiological investigation and health response protocols established for this type of event. Canada: Haemophilus influenzae type B outbreak in Calgary As part of the actions implemented, the Epidemiology teams carried out the identification and monitoring of the patient’s close contacts, applying the corresponding preventive measures to reduce the risk of transmission and safeguard the health of the educational community. Health authorities explained that meningitis caused by Haemophilus influenzae is a bacterial disease that requires timely medical attention. In that regard, they urged the population to immediately seek medical attention if they experience symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiff neck, vomiting, drowsiness, or altered mental status. They also reiterated that vaccination is the main preventive measure against this disease, and therefore called on parents and guardians to verify that their children’s immunization schedules are complete, in accordance with the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI). Outbreak News Today is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe
Bacteria in the airway may shape air pollution health risk
Air pollution is linked to different risks of bacterial pneumonia, sepsis and meningitis, depending on the bacterial subtype a person carries, new research suggests.
Advancing high-threat pathogen preparedness in WHO South-East Asia Region: 2025 in review
Effective preparedness for high-threat pathogens demands more than technical tools — it requires a coherent strategy, sustained country engagement, and the institutional infrastructure to translate evidence into action. In 2025, the Pandemic and Epidemic Management (PEM) Unit advanced all three, working across the full spectrum of high threat pathogen (HTP) preparedness: from methodology development and evidence generation to country-level technical support, emergency response, and regional workforce strengthening.At the core of the PEM unit's work is building the regional evidence and policy architecture needed to prioritize and respond to HTPs systematically. A major milestone was the development of the HTP Prioritization Methodology — a structured, multi-criteria approach to ranking pathogens by epidemic potential, severity, and national context — and its national pilot in Bangladesh, where SARS-CoV-2, Nipah, dengue, and cholera emerged as the highest-priority threats, informing the PEM unit's contribution to 2026–27 biennium prioritization and workplan development (Access link here).Underpinning this work, the PEM unit advanced the peer-reviewed evidence base for HTP preparedness in the South-East Asia Region (SEAR), with three publications in international journals in 2025: Development of a zoonotic influenza distribution assessment and ranking system (ZIDAR): Technical application in Nepal to support cross-sectoral risk-based surveillance in One Health; Implications for influenza A virus surveillance in Southeast Asian Region countries: a scoping review of approaches for the surveillance of swine influenza viruses at human-swine interfaces in BMJ Public Health; and Operationalizing multisector partnerships: a Theory of Action and Reflection tool for zoonotic influenzas in Health Policy and Planning. Together, these contributions move the Region’s HTP preparedness agenda from practice to science — generating the transferable methodological foundations that will inform evidence-based capacity strengthening in Member States.Country-level engagement in 2025 reflected the breadth of contexts in which HTP preparedness must function. Technical support was provided for Mpox and cholera events across the Region, including coordination of cholera and acute watery diarrhea prevention and control in Myanmar in the wake of the March 2025 earthquake. In Myanmar, the PEM unit contributed technical leadership to the earthquake emergency response — one of the most complex humanitarian emergencies in the SEAR — as Health Operations and Technical Support lead within the Incident Management Support Team. This included strengthening emergency response planning, supporting operational and after-action reviews, and providing monitoring and evaluation support for both acute and protracted crisis response. The breadth of HTP support provided to emergency operations across the SEAR was documented in the PEM unit’s contribution to the regional report for the Health Security Interface Technical Advisory Group.In Sri Lanka, technical collaboration with the WHO Country Office and the Ministry of Health laid the groundwork for the National Steering Committee's 2026 annual meeting, development of Standard Operating Procedures for specialized emergency response, and a national training programme — all structured around evidence-based risk assessment for specialized hazards including HTPs.Across the SEAR, the unit contributed to strengthening the workforce architecture that underpins HTP response. Technical inputs shaped the WHO South-East Asia Regional Health Emergency Workforce Strategy 2025–2030, and the PEM unit supported conceptual development of the health emergency workforce framework for the Pandemic Fund Round 3 proposal.Alongside this, the unit's sustained engagement on the meningitis agenda culminated in the launch of the Regional Implementation Framework to Defeat Meningitis in South-East Asia by 2030 at the Seventy-eighth Session of the Regional Committee, ensuring the Region's priorities were reflected in the Global Technical Task Force and expanding the unit's HTP engagement beyond outbreak-prone zoonotic pathogens (Regional Implementation Framework to Defeat Meningitis in South-East Asia by 2030).Taken together, 2025 demonstrated that meaningful HTP preparedness is built incrementally — through methodology, engagement, and the steady accumulation of institutional capacity across Member States.Bangladesh piloted the HTP Prioritization Methodology and identified the highest-priority pathogens in the country context (Photo credit: WHO Country Office, Bangladesh).
Are girls more social from birth?
Madeleine Finlay sits down with her co-host and Guardian science editor, Ian Sample, to discuss three science stories from the week, including a study that offers a clue in the age-old debate about whether sex differences are present from birth or a product of socialisation. Also on the agenda is the super El Niño, which is predicted to lead to 450,000 deaths in the next six months, and an answer to why the UK’s meningitis outbreak earlier this year was so big.
Urgent public health alert as Kent meningitis outbreak grows
Health workers across England are urged to look out for signs of infection as thousands have jabs.
Chicago health officials warn of meningitis outbreak, 2 deaths already reported
Number of meningitis cases investigated in Kent rises to 20
Figure up from 15, says UK Health Security Agency, as thousands of students to be offered vaccines in coming days
Chicago health officials report 7 cases, 2 deaths from meningitis outbreak in January
A meningitis B outbreak is happening in the UK. What people should know
Health officials in the United Kingdom are investigating a cluster of meningococcal infections, including two deaths.
Strengthening bacterial meningitis surveillance in Central America
San José, Costa Rica, 20 August 2026 – Approximately 25 representatives and experts from seven countries participated in a subregional workshop organized by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to strengthen epidemiological and laboratory surveillance of bacterial meningitis. Meningitis caused an estimated 5,000 deaths in the Americas in 2021, one-third among children under 5, and approximately one in four survivors experience permanent sequelae.
2 deaths, high cases reported in meningitis outbreak, Chicago Department of Public Health warns
The Chicago Department of Public Health has issued a new alert after two people recently died from a form of meningitis, and more cases than usual have also been reported in recent months.
The diseases RFK Jr. says children don’t need to be routinely vaccinated for
American kids are no longer routinely being recommended shots against hepatitis A, meningitis, rotavirus and the flu.
University of Surrey meningitis case confirmed by health chiefs
A meningitis case has been confirmed at the University of Surrey, officials say.
Kent meningitis outbreak passed its peak, says UKHSA
"We could still see cases continuing to come in, we need to keep an eye on those, the UKHSA says.