The strain of meningitis behind a deadly outbreak in Oxfordshire is different to the one identified in Kent earlier this year, health officials have said.
One student from Henley College has died and two others who attend different colleges are being treated for the infection following an outbreak in the Reading area.
Close contacts of the cases have been offered antibiotics as a precaution, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said in an update on Friday, and stressed the risk to the wider public remains low.
In the update, the UKHSA also confirmed the strain identified in the first case is different to the one identified in Kent earlier this year which left two dead.
“UKHSA’s testing on the sample for the first case has confirmed it is not the same strain as Meningitis B outbreaks earlier this year ,” the agency told The Independent.
It added the two other cases attend Reading Blue Coat School and Highdown Secondary School and Sixth Form Centre and are receiving treatment.
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