Why are young people still dying from meningitis? - podcast episode cover

Why are young people still dying from meningitis?

Mar 16, 202619 min
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Episode description

A school pupil and a university student have died in Kent and 11 other people are seriously ill following a meningitis outbreak.

Meningitis can kill a person in less than 24 hours if it is not treated quickly. But outbreaks like this have been rare in recent years. Vaccination programmes have helped but anyone over the age of 10 will not have been offered a vaccination against MenB by the NHS. However, it has been available to infants since 2015.

Niall speaks to Dr Tom Nutt from Meningitis Now and Sky's science editor Tom Clarke about why meningitis can be deadly, what the symptoms are, and why the vaccine is not free for teenagers.

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