select search filters
briefings
roundups & rapid reactions
Fiona fox's blog
Scientists react to pre-print on the genetics of the bacteria responsible for the Kent meningitis outbreak which is due to be presented at the UKHSA Conference 2026.
Prof Robert Heyderman, Professor of Infectious Diseases, University College London (UCL), said:
“The authors have undertaken an in-depth genetic analysis of the MenB bacteria that caused the outbreak in Kent. They have identified multiple genetic changes that could explain why this particular MenB strain has an increased disease-causing potential, and provide evidence that the outbreak MenB strain has acquired some of these changes through the acquisition of genes from MenB related bacteria, and more distant relatives that normally don’t cause disease. When the MenB outbreak strain acquired these genetic changes is uncertain because these genetic changes are unlikely to have been acquired in one go, and the outbreak strain could have been carried by healthy people for some time before the human, environmental, and bacterial conditions were right for the outbreak to occur. The MenB bacterial factors that promote transmission and disease do not entirely overlap, and so while this MenB strain has increased disease potential, the genetic changes may not have made it more transmissible. The authors speculate that because of this likely low transmissibility, further disease episodes and outbreaks are less likely. Only ongoing genetic surveillance of carriage and disease MenB strains are required to determine whether they are right.”
Pre-Print available here – https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.17.752363v1
UKHSA press release here – https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ukhsa-and-university-of-oxford-scientists-uncover-genetic-changes-in-the-bacteria-causing-severe-kent-meningococcal-disease-outbreak
Declared interests
For all other experts, no reply to our request for DOIs was received.