The premature death of two young people from meningitis after an outbreak of the disease in Kent is a tragedy. Susan Hopkins, the CEO of the UK Health Service Agency has called the speed at which this particular infection is spreading ‘unprecedented’. But thanks to the concerted efforts of successive British governments, tragedies related to this disease are becoming rarer and rarer. Since 1998, the number of deaths in England caused by invasive meningococcal disease in the UK has fallen by around 86 per cent.

That long-term progress is important context for what is happening in Canterbury and London. The outbreak, linked to the University of Kent, has so far involved 20 suspected cases of MenB, a strain of meningitis. UK Health Service Agency teams are now tracing contacts and distributing........

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