Posts about the work of the Health Protection directorate
We’ve hit the middle of winter and it’s cold, wet, and windy, with some snow and ice appearing across the country. At this time of year we can start expecting Met Office cold weather alerts. This is normal winter weather …
Update: We have updated this blog on 10/09/2015 to take account of the end of season flu vaccine effectiveness data for the 2014/15 flu season. Every year international experts make important judgements about the likely flu viruses that will be circulating …
Recently, my colleagues and I visited several occupational health (OH) departments across England to talk about the ongoing risks to healthcare workers of exposure to bloodborne viruses. 4,830 healthcare workers have reportedly been exposed to bloodborne viruses between 2004 and …
The Scottish Government recently announced that we had a case of Ebola in the UK, in a health worker who travelled to Glasgow from Sierra Leone. In this blog, Public Health England’s Director of Health Protection, Prof Paul Cosford, answers some …
As we come to the end of the year it seems timely to use this blog to highlight some of the progress we’ve made in ensuring the roles of nurses and midwives - in health protection and improvement - are …
In this Ebola Q&A blog Brian McCloskey, director of global health for Public Health England, answers questions about how people catch Ebola. If you want the latest updates on Ebola and the UK response, check the UK Government Ebola page or follow …
Antibiotics are essential for treating many infections but they’re losing their effectiveness. Bacteria are fighting back by adapting and finding ways of surviving the effects of our medicines. The bugs are smart – they can naturally become resistant to antibiotics …
Influenza activity is currently at low levels and whilst last year’s flu season was less severe than some we’ve seen, we must remember the unpredictable nature of the virus. It’s impossible to predict the impact that the disease will have …
This week we publish our Cold Weather Plan for 2014, part of the national effort to reduce an estimated 25,000+ excess winter deaths in England each year, many of which are entirely preventable. It may not be a surprise to …
In this blog PHE Director of Global Health Brian McCloskey answers some of the public health questions currently being raised in the media and via social media, about Ebola. The West Africa Ebola outbreak is an evolving situation and we …
