Meningitis: 'The general risk is low' says North East doctor
Vaccines and antibiotics are being given to students and those affected
A doctor in the North East is offering reassurance that people shouldn't be unnecessarily worried or anxious about meningitis up here.
It's as vaccines and antibiotics are being given to students and those affected.
Dr. George Rae is from the North East Regional Medical Council and he said: "We're in the North East of England and this is being contained at the present time in the South East of England in Kent. And I think that what we are getting across is the fact that the general risk is low and people should not be unnecessarily worried or anxious.
"What they've done, the public health and the United Kingdom Health Safety Agency, they've moved very quickly to identify contacts in that club down in Kent area, they have been offering antibiotics and that would be very, very effective at this point in time.
"Anybody, if they were coming back from the South East in Kent up to the North East and they had been contacted in Kent, one would envisage that they would not ignore that and they would have come forward to get their antibiotic.
"Hopefully what will have happened is the UK Health Safety Agency has moved very quickly to identify contacts down in the Kent area and offering them antibiotics. So that will have happened and anybody who's been contacted should have been given free antibiotics.
"But of course, the meningitis B vaccine does take a bit of time, like all vaccinations, to get into your system. And therefore, as far as down in Kent is concerned, the free antibiotics being given, those are the way forward.
"But I do feel that we don't want to be creating alarm in no way at all, because particularly here in the North East, the general risk is low.
"If with the other meningitis vaccine, the meningitis ACWY, which is offered to teenagers, that really the uptake is only 75%. And that is something that we actually must be able to increase to get the herd immunity."