This post was last checked and updated in December 2025. Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is a bacterial infection that spreads easily and mainly affects the lungs and airways. Whooping cough is sometimes known as the 100-day cough because …
To help you stay safe this spring and summer, we've compiled a guide to protecting yourself from tick-borne infections. In this blog, you'll learn how to avoid tick bites, how to recognise the signs and symptoms of Lyme disease and TBE and when to seek medical assistance.
Housed near Bristol, UKHSA’s National Collection of Pathogenic Fungi (NCPF) is home to more than 4,500 isolates of potentially deadly fungi isolates, gathered over the last century. In this blog post, we’ll cover the history of the NCPF: why it was set up, what it houses and how it continues to play an important role in …
In this blog post we will explore the rising tide of STIs across the eons, how ancient Greeks feared the killer “scorpions and serpents” in semen, and how goat's milk was thought to be a curative for sexual ailments.
They look like something out of nightmare, but these so-called ‘spider viruses’ occur naturally, and could be a powerful new weapon in tackling the growing threat of antibiotic resistance. Bacteriophages, or phages for short, have a remarkable and currently untapped …
In this blog post, we explore the decades old science behind mRNA and the exciting technology behind mRNA vaccines will help ensure preparedness against future health threats.
In this blog, we will explore the role of pathogen genomics in UK biosecurity and how we are developing our genomic systems to better protect public health in the UK.
With the emergence at the end of last year of COVID-19 variant JN.1, there are questions about how it compares to the many other variants that have been identified. JN.1 descends from variant BA.2.86 and has an additional mutation in …
In this blog post, we will address some of the most common questions we've had from the public about the UKHSA data dashboard and how we will continue to develop it.
The Health Effects of Climate Change report summarises the latest science on health threats from climate change in the UK. Since the last report in 2012, both the evidence and the risks have greatly escalated. Read 11 key takeaways in our latest post.
