Pupils at the college have been offered antibiotics as a precaution A teenager from Gateshead who was taken to hospital with suspected meningitis has died, it has been confirmed.
Two year 10 pupils at Emmanuel College were taken ill over the weekend.
Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust confirmed a 15-year-old boy had died. The condition of the other boy is said to be slowly improving.
Pupils at the school were offered antibiotics and letters were sent to parents of all the students giving them advice and information.
Health experts said the meningococcal bacteria, which causes meningitis, does not spread easily.
Speaking when the cases were first confirmed, Dr Tricia Cresswell, of the Health Protection Agency, said: “Only people who have had prolonged, close contact with the students are at a slightly increased risk of becoming unwell.
“The germ which causes the illness lives naturally in the back of the nose and throat and many people carry it without ever becoming unwell.
“However, it can cause meningitis or blood poisoning in some people.
“Because there is a possibility that the two cases may be linked, and strictly as a precautionary measure, all students in Year 10 have been offered antibiotics.”
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