Preventative treatment recommended after meningitis outbreak in university

Health authorities announced that preventative treatment will be offered to the close contacts of three students who were diagnosed with meningococcal disease after a third case was recorded in less than three months in the University of the Peloponnese, western Greece, on Wednesday.

The National Organization for Public Health (EODY) said in a press release that the detection of three cases of the disease of the same serogroup (B) in an organization (school, university institution, etc.) over a three-month period constitutes an outbreak and it is recommended that chemoprophylaxis be extended to a wider circle of close contacts and that targeted vaccination be given to the close contacts of the affected cases.

The newest case, a 20-year-old student of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, was reportedly found by his parents at home in ill health. He was evacuated first to Agios Andreas Hospital and then to Patras University Hospital, were doctors determined he had meningitis and started treating him in intensive care.

This is the third case of meningococcal disease recorded in the city of Patra from January 11 to date. The first involved, detected in January, incolved a first-year student of the Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering of the University of Patras, and the second, discovered at the end of February, was a 20-year-old student of mathematics. Twelve cases have been recorded in the country since the start of the year.

EODY said it has sent instructions to the local health authorities, as well as to the universities, regarding the investigation of the contacts of those three cases and the immediate administration of chemoprophylaxis.

A team from EODY and the Mobile Health Teams (KOMY) will be in Patra on Thursday.

The vice-president of the Department of Public Health Policy at the University of Western Attica and scientific director of the Laboratory Surveillance Unit of Bacterial Meningitis, Georgina Tzanakaki, told Kathimerini, the three cases in Patra do not represent an alarming increase.

“Every year there are cases of meningitis in our country, with the exception of the years of the pandemic, when no cases were recorded due to the measures taken.” In 2019, before the pandemic, 21 cases were recorded, and in 2023 another 21 cases were recorded, she said, adding that the disease occurs mainly in the winter months, so experts will wait until early April to assess the picture for 2024.

Meningitis B is a rare but serious disease caused by the bacterium Neisseria meningitidis, which can cause inflammation of the protective membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord, as well as a serious blood infection called meningococcal septicemia. Meningitis B vaccines have been available since 2014, so it is likely that the three students did not have time to get vaccinated. After all, it is not on the mandatory immunization schedule. The vaccine is only recommended and reimbursed for high-risk groups.