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The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said last week (Aug 5) there were "early signs" that the monkeypox outbreak was plateauing across the country and that its expansion had slowed. "While the most recent data suggests the growth of the outbreak has slowed, we cannot be complacent," Dr Meera Chand, director of clinical and emerging infections at UKHSA, said. There were 2,859 confirmed and highly probable cases of monkeypox in the UK as of Aug. 4, with nearly 99 per cent of the cases among men, the country's health authority said in a statement. The recent analysis by the UKHSA showed that "monkeypox continues to be transmitted primarily in interconnected sexual networks of gay, bisexual, or other men who have sex with men", it added. British authorities in June were recommending gay and bisexual men at higher risk of exposure to monkeypox be offered a vaccine, as the outbreak of the viral disease had gathered pace, mostly in Europe.

New data published by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has revealed that London is potentially at risk of a measles resurgence. UKHSA modelling suggests that, unless MMR vaccination rates improve, London could see a measles outbreak with tens of thousands of cases. "Those who have never received a measles vaccine (MMR) are at risk," said UKHSA. MMR is part of the NHS Routine Childhood Immunisation Programme. Parents whose infants missed out, or anyone of any age unvaccinated, are urged to come forward. Susceptibility is particularly high among 19 to 25 year olds, affected by unfounded stories in the early 2000s ('Wakefield cohorts') and some may still not be fully vaccinated. As part of continued efforts to protect people against getting measles, the NHS is launching a campaign encouraging people to check their vaccination status, with targeted outreach to groups in London.

The outbreak of Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) in the UK, which is associated with contaminated eye gels imported from India, has led to the death of one person, and many others falling ill, according to a government report. Bcc is a group of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that are widely found within the environment. Although it rarely causes infection, it can result in severe ones in individuals with compromised immune systems and those living with cystic fibrosis, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said. Between January 2023 and February 2024, there were 52 confirmed and six probable cases across the UK linked to the bacteria outbreak, as revealed in the Health Protection Report published by UKHSA. Forty-one of these cases were hospital inpatients, 38 of which were in critical-care settings. Twenty-five cases were considered to have "clinically significant infections attributable to Bcc", out of which 11 had eye infections, nine had respiratory infections and four had bacteremia (bacteria entering the bloodstream). Two individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF) were infected, and while one was treated, the other died, with the report indicating Bcc infection to have "contributed to the death."

The UK Health Security Agency's (UKHSA) Chief Executive, Professor Dame Jenny Harries has expressed concern that measles outbreak could spread to other towns and cities unless urgent action is taken to increase Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccination uptake in areas at greatest risk. The virus can spread very easily among those who are unvaccinated, especially in nurseries and schools, she said on Friday (19 January) during a visit to irmingham to review the ongoing work to contain the spread of the disease. A rapid rise in cases has been seen in the West Midlands since 1 October 2023, with 216 confirmed cases and 103 probable cases recorded till 18 January. The majority of the cases (around 80 per cent) were reported from Birmingham, with about 10 per cent in Coventry, mostly affecting children aged under 10 years. Dame Jenny is calling on all local areas to increase MMR vaccine uptake rates in communities across the country.

The drop in vaccination rates is believed to be driving a surge in measles cases in England, mainly in the West Midlands. As of 18 January, 216 confirmed cases and 103 probable cases have been reported in the region since 1 October 2023, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) revealed. The majority of cases (around 80 per cent) were from Birmingham, with children aged under 10 years being infected the most. UKHSA Chief Executive, Professor Dame Jenny Harries has warned that the outbreak could spread further to other towns and cities if urgent action is not taken to increase Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccination uptake in areas at greatest risk.

An outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe is now linked to 23 deaths, making it the deadliest known outbreak of foodborne illness in the USA in more than 25 years.

Here's the timeline of how the Coronavirus outbreak evolved from Wuhan city in China and spreading its tentacles across the world.

China is grappling with an outbreak of infections from a new coronavirus that began in December.

British health agencies have secured funding to develop a standardised approach to test the performance of vaccines being used or in development against monkeypox, days after the World Health Organization labelled the growing outbreak a global health emergency. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) said it would give up to $375,000 to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to develop standard tools to assess the strength and duration of immune responses generated by current vaccines, and for tests used to detect monkeypox antibody levels. Apart from administration fees, these tools will be made freely available to the global scientific community, paving the way for a common standardised assessment between countries documenting vaccine performance against monkeypox, CEPI said. Until this year, the viral disease has rarely spread outside Africa where it is endemic. But reports of a handful of cases in Britain in early May signalled that the outbreak had moved into Europe. So far, there have been more than 16,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox in more than 75 countries.

Governments should invest in vaccines for all strains of influenza virus that exist in the animal kingdom as an insurance policy in case of an outbreak in humans, the incoming chief scientist at the World Health Organization said on Monday (Feb. 20). Countries ranging from the United States and Britain to France and Japan have suffered record losses of poultry in outbreaks of avian flu in the past year. The recent spread to mammals of H5N1 - commonly known as bird flu - needed to be monitored, but the risk to humans remained low, the WHO said earlier this month. Incoming WHO chief scientist Jeremy Farrar said he would like to see the pharmaceutical industry at least conduct some clinical trials for all influenza strains such that the world would not have to start from scratch to initiate global manufacturing should the need arise. "My concern that we're in slow motion watching something which may never happen," he added in a media briefing. "But if it were to happen, would we look back on what we're doing at the moment and say, why didn't we do more?"

The US Doctors and citizens are still waiting for the results of state and federal investigations at the New England Compounding Center of Framingham.

A total of 21 people nationwide have now died in the listeriosis outbreak linked to cantaloupes from a Colorado farm, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.

Twenty-five deaths in 12 states are now linked to listeria in cantaloupe, the deadliest known outbreak of foodborne illness in the U.S. in more than 25 years.

The British Association of Dermatologists (BAD) has raised concerned about rising cases of scabies in the UK, and suggested that the current shortage of medicines is contributing to the outbreak. Usually, this skin condition is treated using topical creams or oral medication in more severe cases, but shortage of scabies drugs has been reported since May 2023. Both permethrin 5% cream and malathion liquid, which are two main topical treatments for scabies, are in limited supply in the U.K. Paula Geanau, a spokesperson for BAD, told Fox News Digital on Friday (19 January) that the rate of scabies is double the seasonal average, with three cases per 100,000 of the population recorded at the end of November by the Royal College of GPs.

With 118 new cases confirmed by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), the total number of measles cases reported in England since 1 October 2023 has gone up to 465. According to the latest data published by the agency, West Midlands continues to see a disproportionately high rate of infections, with a sharp rise in case numbers over the last six weeks, mainly driven by cases in Birmingham. In England, there were 17 laboratory-confirmed measles cases in October, 42 in November, 161 in December, 240 in January 2024. Five more cases were confirmed last week, according to the measles statistics updated by UKHSA on 8 February. More than 70 per cent (329 of 465) of total confirmed cases were reported from the West Midlands, 13 per cent (62 of 465) from London, seven per cent (32 of 465) in Yorkshire and The Humber, and the remaining cases from other regions of England.

The government will on Thursday launch a drive to boost childhood vaccination rates, health authorities said, seeking an "urgent reversal" to a fall in uptake as the country faces a worsening measles outbreak. Routine childhood immunisations in Britain for diseases including measles, mumps and rubella, diphtheria and polio, have been falling gradually over the past decade, but dipped more sharply after the Covid-19 pandemic, mirroring a global decline. Last year UNICEF said people worldwide had lost confidence in the importance of routine childhood vaccines during the pandemic, with misinformation, dwindling trust in governments and political polarisation contributing to rising hesitancy. Britons will begin seeing adverts from next week across various media, including a television campaign featuring children reminding parents of the risk of missing out on vaccinations, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said. "We need an urgent reversal of the decline in the uptake of childhood vaccinations to protect our communities," UKHSA chief executive Jenny Harries said in a statement.

Zika Outbreak: The researchers have developed a human body odour-baited trap to lure malaria mosquitoes, which has been successfully tested on a Rusinga Island in Kenya.

With 29 people dead, listeria linked to cantaloupe from a Colorado farm is the deadliest foodborne illness in the United States since 1924.

Federal health officials say they found listeria throughout the packing facility of the Colorado farm whose cantaloupe have so far caused 25 deaths and more than 125 illnesses.

On an October day in the midst of harvest season, two farmworkers sat idly in their home in a Central California town that touts itself as "the cantaloupe center of the world."

State Health department The state has also reported a jump within the percentage of total positive tests since mid-June, now hovering around 13.5% on the average as of Monday. The so-called positivity rate indicates how bad an epidemic is during a region. At the peak of latest York's outbreak, quite 40% of all Covid-19 tests were returning positive. It's currently around 1%, consistent with the ny state health department. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has previously noted that a positivity rate above 10% would be a "warning flag" for the state. The outbreak in Texas now rivals the height in ny in early April when the New York was reporting a mean of quite 10,000 new cases each day .