France reports meningitis death, says ‘no link’ to UK outbreak

An employee at French nuclear fuel company Orano has died from meningitis, French health authorities said Friday, adding that there is seemingly “no link” with the ongoing outbreak in the U.K.

The Normandy Regional Health Agency said it received a report of a case of invasive meningococcal disease in La Hague, Normandy, on Thursday, and that the death was announced on Friday. Authorities are currently identifying at-risk contacts, who will be offered antibiotics “as soon as possible.”

The employee worked at Orano, the health authority said. “Around 50 potential contact cases have been identified and contacted by their managers in order to receive a specific preventive antibiotic treatment,” Orano told POLITICO.

The patient died at Cherbourg hospital. Cherbourg is a key port for ferries to and from the U.K. The health authority said “no link can be established with the meningitis epidemic currently underway in the United Kingdom.”

The U.K. is grappling with an ongoing outbreak of meningitis in the southeast county of Kent, linked to a local nightclub. As of Friday, 29 people have fallen ill and two people have died, the U.K. Health Security Agency said. Health Secretary Wes Streeting described the outbreak as “unprecedented.”

Health officials have rolled out preventive antibiotics and vaccination to those who attended the nightclub between March 5-7, to close contacts of cases and to local university and school students.

France reported one case to the U.K. last weekend in someone who had also visited the university then travelled to France. The French health ministry told POLITICO the patient was “stable,” that close contacts had been alerted and offered antibiotics, and that no further cases had been reported.