Mar 28, 2025
Travel offers exciting adventures, but it’s important to protect your health wherever you go. While casual sexual encounters during holidays are common, protecting yourself from sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is more crucial than ever – especially...
Mar 25, 2025
As we move into spring, protection from any earlier COVID-19 vaccination you may have had will be starting to wane. COVID-19 can still be very dangerous and even life threatening, particularly for older people and those with a weakened immune system. Thankfully, for...
Mar 25, 2025
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) viral particles, located on the surface of a Vero E6 cell The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) was set up to protect health from infectious diseases and environmental hazards. We prepare for future threats to...
Mar 24, 2025
UKHSA’s most recent data on tuberculosis (TB) revealed a rise in reported numbers in England by 13% in 2024 (5,480) compared to 2023 (4,850). This signals a rebound to above the pre-COVID-19 numbers, despite significant progress towards a decline in TB over the last...
Mar 14, 2025
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to address health security challenges. Here are 3 examples of projects that demonstrate how we’re using cutting-edge AI technology to protect and improve public...
Mar 13, 2025
Solar flare Space weather occurs when explosive events near the Sun’s surface project strong radiation fields towards the Earth. These events typically peak during solar maximum – a cycle that occurs approximately every 11 years – but serious events can also happen...
Mar 12, 2025
Nanoplastics are plastic particles smaller than 1,000 nanometers in diameter, or 100 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair, and they are polluting our environment and our food, to the extent that they are now being found in human blood, lungs, placenta,...
Mar 11, 2025
Scientist using a blow torch to seal an ampule with a bacterial sample inside Within the UK Health Security Agency lies a scientific treasure trove, known as the Culture Collections. Its 4 repositories house thousands of meticulously preserved microorganisms,...
Mar 11, 2025
From 6 April 2025, we’re expanding the list of pathogens that Registered Medical Professionals and laboratories in England must notify us about. The changes will strengthen local and national surveillance and support a prompt response to outbreaks of infectious...
Mar 7, 2025
In this blog post we take a behind-the-scenes look at the Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory (RIPL), where our scientists work to safeguard public health from rare and deadly diseases. Our laboratories RIPL is the UK’s frontline clinical diagnostic laboratory for...
Mar 7, 2025
Lassa virus under a microscope. Image courtesy of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention You may have seen media reports about a person who travelled to the UK who was ill with Lassa fever while in the country. While Lassa fever is rare in the UK, we have previous...
