Oxford University author’s warning after son died of meningitis

Michael Rosen has warned of the dangers of meningitis after his son, Eddie, died from meningitis C in 1999 after falling ill one night.

The bacterial infection was ‘so dangerous, and so quick’, that Mr Rosen is urging parents to check their teenagers for symptoms if they become ill.

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The children’s author spoke to BBC Newsnight in an interview on Wednesday (March 18) and said: “He got ill, and as a parent I did my diagnosis. I thought it was flu.

“I put him to bed with paracetamol and Nurofen and I went in in the morning and he was dead – it was that quick.”

Mr Rosen, who read English Literature at Wadham College, Oxford, said he was aware of the symptoms of meningitis at the time and had even taken his stepdaughter to hospital with suspected symptoms six weeks before the loss of his son.

It comes as the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said that as of 5pm on Wednesday (March 18), 15 cases of meningitis have been confirmed and a further 12 are under investigation.

This takes the total to 27 cases of either confirmed or suspected meningitis, up from 20 on Wednesday. Two students have died in the outbreak.

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Meningitis B, known as MenB, is the strain of bacteria behind the outbreak.

So far, there are no recorded cases of meningitis in Oxfordshire.

Both Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University have been distributing advice to its respective students around meningitis.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting told reporters on the Canterbury campus that the outbreak of meningitis “isn’t like Covid”, and the risk to the general public is “extremely low”.