Students at University College London have been given 'precautionary' antibiotics after someone at the university was taken to hospital with meningitis.
The college said it had managed to identify everyone who had come into contact with the patient, who was described as a person associated with the university.
In a statement UCL warned students to make sure they were vaccinated after the individual was admitted to hospital with suspected meningococcal meningitis.
The university said: 'UCL is working closely with Public Health England and we have identified all of those who had close contact with the person and arranged a course of antibiotics for them as a precautionary measure. The antibiotics are given to kill the meningococci that they may be carrying in their nose or throat, and will reduce the risk of infection to others.
'Although the risk to other members of the UCL community is generally low, it is important to be aware of the symptoms, which can include fever, a severe headache, stiff neck, drowsiness or confusion, aversion to bright light, painful joints, nausea and vomiting.
'It can also cause a characteristic rash that does not fade when pressed against a glass. Advice from Public Health England says that contact between two people has to be close for the bacteria to be picked up, because they cannot live for more than a few seconds outside the body. The college said that early signs of meningitis could be mistaken for flu or even a hangover, but warned staff and students to call their GP or NHS 111 if they suspected it could be something worse.
Members of the university were also told to make sure they had had the Meningitis ACWY vaccine which protects against four kinds of meningococcal bacteria.
The vaccine, offered to people aged under 25, is available from GPs.
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