In preparation for your arrival at university here is a little reminder about an important aspect of your health and what you can do to protect it.

Did you know that teenagers and young people are the second highest at risk group for contracting meningitis? Each year freshers across the country succumb to this disease when innocent people carrying the bacteria in their throat share with new friends who may not be protected.

Meningitis W is a particularly virulent strain. A programme to vaccinate 14 to 18 year olds against this strain in the form of the Meningitis ACWY (Men ACWY) vaccine began in the UK in 2015. But you may have missed out! You may not have been in the UK!

What should you do?

Students going to university or college for the first time, including overseas and mature students, who have not yet had the Men ACWY vaccine remain eligible up to their 25th birthday.

You should contact your doctor to have the Men ACWY vaccine before starting university or college. If that’s not possible, you should have it as soon as you can when you arrive on campus or commence your programme of studies.

Familiarise yourself with the signs and symptoms of meningitis so you could recognise the disease in a peer in halls (sadly some of those who died did so because friends thought they were drunk).

While you are getting this vaccination it would be a good time to check you have had all relevant UK-schedule vaccines – especially the two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Measles has increased in prevalence in the UK recently and a number of cases have occurred where large groups of people congregate, such as at festivals and in halls of residence.

Protect your health and that of your peers: get vaccinated.

Sharon Graham, Senior Lecturer, School of Health and Social Care