Bacterial meningitis[1] isn’t some Victorian relic. The organisms that cause it, such as Neisseria meningitidis or Streptococcus pneumoniae are lurking in respiratory tracts across entire communities. Waiting for their chance. When that chance comes the attack can be terrifyingly swift. For once inside the system, the bacteria trigger a storm of inflammation around the brain — the body’s own defences become part of the damage. The swelling inside the skull crushes delicate neural tissue; the toxins shred blood vessels; the immune response turns lethal by accident. This is why survivors often live with hearing loss, seizures, cognitive injury, amputations — the aftermath is not a tidy recovery story. Some. of course, do not survive. As we write another outbreak is tearing through the quiet university town of Canterbury in Kent, as described by Mark Newman and Patrick Barlow of the BBC [2] It won’t be the last.
Because up to now our most effective defence against meningitis has been antibiotics. Which is why the UK Health Security Agency is rushing some to the epicentre of this latest outbreak, desperately hoping to stem it before it spreads further. Maybe, this time, they will succeed. But the next time? On current trends we are heading towards a world with no antibiotics. Given declining rates of vaccination generally, that means a return to a world where meningitis is once more common. Victorian Values, anyone?
[1] Meningitis – NHS
[2] Meningitis – NHS
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