Some parents and students have accused health authorities of being too slow to react to the outbreak of meningitis in Kent which has seen two young people die and 13 treated in hospital, but the health secretary has said the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) acted as quickly and comprehensively as possible. Was valuable time lost in trying to contain this outbreak - one that is being described as "unprecedented" by experts? One public health source involved in the outbreak told me that it was clear there was a cluster developing before the weekend and that something seems to have gone wrong with the process. Prof Paul Hunter, an expert in infectious disease at the University of East Anglia, says: "Suspected cases should be notified immediately – that's been standard process for years. The local ambulance service rushed three University of Kent students to hospital after desperate 999 calls were made. Around 40 999 calls were made by university students on Sunday afternoon and evening, according to sources, as people became worried about the outbreak. Dr Pandora Frost, who works from a practice in north Kent, says she is dealing with a family of a close contact of one of the young people diagnosed with meningitis and describes it as a "shambles".