Tyra Skinner was violently ill three times before doctors at Kent’s William Harvey hospital determined something was critically wrong. The 20-year-old Canterbury Christ Church University student was rushed to critical care, suffering from a severe headache, a stiff neck, and excruciating pain – symptoms consistent with meningitis, a disease that has already claimed two young lives in Kent.
“She could hardly move, she was in a foetal position. She was so cramped up and sore,” her father, Dale Skinner, 42, told the Guardian. “It was horrendous, to be honest, to see her so helpless and in so much pain.” Skinner received antibiotics and fluids, and subsequent tests confirmed a diagnosis of meningitis. She is expected to remain hospitalized for at least another week.
The outbreak is linked to Club Chemistry, a nightclub in Canterbury, which health officials believe served as a “super-spreader” event. Ten days prior to her admission on Monday, Skinner had been at the club. As of Friday, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) reported 29 confirmed or suspected cases of meningitis. Of the 18 confirmed cases, 13 are attributed to the meningitis B strain, and all 29 have required hospital admission. Over 9,800 courses of antibiotics and 2,360 vaccines have been administered to eligible individuals in Kent.
The health secretary announced that anyone who attended Club Chemistry from March 5th onwards would be vaccinated. Prof Dr Anjan Ghosh, director of public health at Kent county council, stated, “As more cases are getting known, they all have a back history back to [Club Chemistry].” He noted that patients visited the venue on March 5th, 6th, or 7th, with an estimated 4,800 people attending during that period.
Ghosh explained the likely transmission route: “What probably happened in the club is you had loads of people in close contact, probably sharing vapes, sharing drinks. It’s a club setting, so probably there was intimacy. So all those things combined to contribute to the spread of this bacteria.”
Chelsea Abbott, a 19-year-old college student from Herne Bay who visited the club on March 5th and 12th, described a pattern of behavior that facilitated transmission. “Everyone’s just kissing each other, or you go to the smoking area and someone’s like, ‘have you got a vape?’ because their vape died and then you share it,” she said. “Once you’re drunk, you’ll share your vape with this person, that person, and like 10 people have had your vape. Or someone’s like: ‘Let me get a sip of your drink.’ Then you look over and someone’s making out with someone, and then they’re making out with someone else. So it’s definitely a very easy place for bacteria to spread, which is probably why it spread so much in the first place.”
By Sunday, March 15th, Juliette Kenny, an 18-year-old sixth-form pupil at Queen Elizabeth’s grammar school in Faversham, and an unnamed student from the University of Kent had died.
The UKHSA was notified about the first case on Friday, March 13th, and initiated contact tracing and antibiotic distribution. A public health alert was issued two days later, at 6pm. The agency also contacted Louise Jones-Roberts, the owner of Club Chemistry, via Instagram, informing her of a confirmed case among recent customers.
Jones-Roberts expressed her initial shock. “We all have an understanding of how things like flu and coronavirus are transmitted because we were beaten around the head with it during Covid, but this is different,” she said. “I’m a parent and [meningitis] is the thing that everyone is terrified of. I said, look, we’ve just got to tell people now what the symptoms are and what to do if they’ve got them.”
Meanwhile, many students, unaware of the outbreak, had travelled home across the country for Mother’s Day. Kishan Mistri, a 20-year-old University of Kent law student, remained on campus. He first learned of the infections via a BBC News story around 7:30pm on Sunday. Earlier that afternoon, he had observed ambulances and fire engines outside Hut 8, a campus fast-food outlet. He then saw videos on social media of emergency responders in hazmat suits and a visibly ill student being wheeled out of student accommodation.
“The poor boy looked terribly ill getting wheeled out of [student] accommodation. It was absolutely heartbreaking. He looked super ill. I have never seen anyone look that ill before,” Mistri recalled. “The tensions in our flat and how people felt, it was something that I’ve never felt since Covid. It was scarier.”
Students revising in the library began to leave as news of the outbreak spread. Praise, a medical student, described the scene: “It’s exam season. Everyone was everywhere. Then we start getting sent things from people. It’s a screenshot of BBC News, saying that two people passed away. Then we’re seeing one by one people just leave [the library]. It was empty. You can literally walk and hear a pin drop. That’s how quiet it was.”
An email informing Mistri and other students that their exams were postponed arrived at 11pm on Sunday.
Students described the University of Kent’s initial response as unhurried. Lilia Thomson-Amato, a marketing student who had travelled home to Thanet for Mother’s Day, said she did not receive an email from the university about the outbreak until 9:30pm on Sunday. It included a message from the UKHSA advising anyone experiencing symptoms to seek urgent medical attention. “It was a real disappointment from the university, how they initially handled things,” she said. “I didn’t feel their approach was completely appropriate for the scale of what was actually going on, considering one of their students had died.”
A university staff member also criticized the response, stating they were not informed until 8:30pm on Sunday and that staff were not offered the vaccine until Thursday – four days after the public announcement. “It was imperative that on campus students were prioritised,” the staff member said, adding that while grateful for the current support, it “feels like an afterthought.”
A University of Kent spokesperson stated, “This is a regional public health matter and not specific to the university, so the response is being led by the UK Health Security Agency. We contacted our staff and students as soon as guidance from UKHSA allowed, and are continuing to do so while the situation unfolds.”
On Wednesday, students returned to campus wearing face masks and queued for the MenB vaccine. Katie Moore, an 18-year-old law with criminology student, also received antibiotics after potentially being exposed at Club Chemistry on March 7th. She reported that a friend, a Canterbury Christ Church student, was admitted to intensive care on Monday with meningitis and remains hospitalized.
On a visit to the University of Kent on Thursday, health secretary Wes Streeting announced that further vaccinations would be administered, including to students who had travelled home and anyone who attended Club Chemistry from March 5th onwards, as well as sixth-formers at four schools and other university students in Canterbury.
Ghosh noted that meningitis has an incubation period of two to ten days, meaning anyone infected at the club should have exhibited symptoms by Tuesday, March 17th. “In theory, from now on, if there are novel cases emerging, there is a possibility they are from secondary transmission,” he said, suggesting the possibility of community spread. He also reassured the public, stating, “The memories of Covid have not gone, and that was quite traumatic for a lot of people. But this is definitely not Covid – it’s not like a rampant, marauding virus that’s spreading around.”
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