PublicHealthMatters 
A sample of passengers travelling from China into London’s Heathrow Airport will be invited to take a PCR test for COVID-19 on arrival. These tests will help us to better understand any variants that may be present in any positive cases. Why are we only testing arrivals from China? China is currently experiencing its largest … Read more
As students start to return to school, it’s important to be aware of the winter illnesses currently circulating and the best ways to protect your child and others. In this blog, we set out some of the simple actions that parents of school age children can take to help protect their families and those around … Read more
Group A streptococcus (GAS) is a common bacteria. Lots of us carry it in our throats and on our skin and it doesn’t always result in illness. However, GAS does cause a number of infections, some mild and some more serious. The most serious infections linked to GAS come from invasive group A strep, known … Read more
World AIDS Day (1 December) provides an opportunity to remember those who have died from an AIDS-related illness and show support for those living with HIV. The latest data in England The latest data shows that whilst new HIV diagnoses in England fell by nearly a third between 2019 and 2021 and transmission of the … Read more
The COVID-19 pandemic led to enormous public interest in statistics, with sudden and urgent need to track the virus almost in real time. Whilst this was a big challenge for our statisticians, it led to real innovation in the way we manage and present data and statistics. UKHSA’s COVID-19 dashboard has been a huge success … Read more
The winter is a busy time for those working in public health and the health services. This coming winter, there is potential for respiratory or infectious diseases such as COVID-19, flu, RSV and norovirus (the “winter vomiting bug”) to coincide. We can also anticipate that there may be weather events, such as particularly cold spells … Read more
Antimicrobial drugs are commonly used. We have all heard of antibiotics, which fight bacteria, but there are also antifungals, antivirals and antiparasitics that fight fungi, viruses and parasites, respectively. The more we use these drugs, the less effective they become and this problem is known as antimicrobial resistance (AMR). It means that microbes have developed … Read more
Norovirus, commonly known as the winter vomiting bug, is a stomach bug that causes sickness and diarrhoea. Following lower levels than normal throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have started to see an increase in norovirus activity as we head into the winter period. Norovirus is able to spread easily through communities and so outbreaks are … Read more
The current situation A record number of cases of avian influenza virus infections, or ‘bird flu’ , were confirmed across England, Scotland, and Wales in wild and captive birds last winter (2021/22). Normally, detections of bird flu decrease during the spring and summer months, however, the epidemic has continued, particularly in ducks, geese or other … Read more
The UK-Public Health Rapid Support Team is a key international partner in infectious disease outbreak detection, prevention, preparedness and response; operational research; and capacity strengthening. The team partners with low- and-middle income countries to support effective response to outbreaks before they develop into global health emergencies, and are able to deploy teams of public health … Read more