Universities UK provides meningitis guidance to help save student lives

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 09 Dec 2004 - 11:00 PDT


Universities UK has launched a revised set of vital guidelines to help universities and health protection units prepare before meningitis or septicaemia occur, and indicate the action to take following a case or outbreak.

The guidelines have been prepared in response to new national advice and the introduction of new meningococcal vaccine against Group C strains.

Despite this new vaccination students are still at risk. Around 2,000 cases of meningococcal disease are reported each year in England and Wales and the second highest risk group occurs at age 15-19 years, corresponding with the age at which most students start further or higher education.

Many institutions already have systems in place to deal with the disease and these guidelines give an aid to institutions when they formulate or update their own polices and will need to be adapted to local circumstances.

Key recommendations include;

* Higher education institutions should ensure that it has a management protocol for dealing with meningococcal disease and other communicable disease incidents. The policies should include good channels of communication with students, staff and the public, effective support arrangements for students and strong links to health protection units and local GPs.

* Group C meningococcal disease has been dramatically cut thanks to the introduction of MenC vaccination. However, even before this vaccine, disease due to Group B was more common than Group C, and as there is no current vaccine for Group B, it is important not to become complacent.

* Students should be encouraged to look out for each other and should know how to get help and advice from a general practitioner if they are ill. This information should be widely available through the university and Students' Union.

Baroness Warwick, Chief Executive of Universities UK, said: "Universities take the welfare of their students very seriously and these comprehensive guidelines produced for the whole sector, in partnership with health organisations, will help individual institutions prepare for and deal with any cases of this disease. These guidelines highlight the importance of collaboration between universities and the health sector."

Dr James Stuart, guidelines coordinator, and Director of Health Protection Agency South West, said:

"Meningitis and septicaemia still pose a risk to our university and college students. The disease can strike very quickly and it is notoriously difficult to diagnose in its early stages. First year students who may not yet have established good access to local health services are at higher risk.

"Tragic experience has informed these guidelines' key points - encouraging action to aid the prompt diagnosis of the disease, raising awareness among students and staff, and setting out the public health steps to be taken following a case or an outbreak of meningococcal disease.

"These guidelines will assist universities and their local health service to draw up plans for handling the disease. Those plans will help save lives."

These guidelines are endorsed by the Meningitis Trust and Meningitis Research Foundation. Notes

1. 'Managing meningococcal disease {septicaemia or meningitis} in higher education institutions' was produced by Universities UK's Student Experience Strategy Group, the British Association of Health Services in Higher Education (BAHSHE), the Association of Managers of Students Services in Higher Education (AMOSSHE), the Health Protection Agency (HPA), the National Public Health Service for Wales, the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environment Health and the Public Health Medicine Environment Group (PHMEG).

2. Link to guidelines: http://bookshop.universitiesuk.ac.uk/downloads/MeningitisGuidelines.pdf

3. Meningococcal disease is an acute infectious disease caused by Neisseria meningitidis. This bacterium lives in the human throat and is commonly carried without ill effect. However, illness can develop very rapidly and is fatal in five to ten per cent of cases. Illness is due to septicaemia (blood Poisoning), meningitis (inflammation of the brain lining) or a combination of the two. Urgent antibiotic treatment is needed.

4. The Health Protection Agency plays a critical role in protecting people from infectious diseases and in preventing harm when hazards involving chemicals, posions or radiation occur. In England, the HPA has 32 Health Protection Units operating at a local level. Separate arrangements are in force in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.'

5. For further information on meningitis symptoms or other meningitis information please click here http://www.meningitis.org/index.jsp?page=/content.jsp?sectno=5&subno=9

For further information/interview requests please contact:
Email: pressunit@universitiesuk.ac.uk
Tel: 020 7419 5407 (Naomi Sellick, Senior Press and PR Officer)
or
Tel: 020 7419 5568 (Emma Dickson, Assistant Press Officer)

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