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Content Article
When the Covid-19 pandemic arrived in the UK in March 2020, Professor Paul Elkington and a team at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust (UHS) quickly developed a new form of respiratory protective equipment (RPE) called PeRSo (Personal Respirator Southampton) for hospital staff to use. PeRSo is a portable, wearable device which blows air through a HEPA filter into a hood, providing a high level of protection against respiratory infection. In this interview, Paul describes how, working with industry partners, his team was able to provide 3,500 members of staff at UHS with PeRSo during the pandemic. Describing the impact this had on staff morale and Covid infection rates, he explains why PeRSo is a preferable alternative to the FFP3 masks recommended by the Government during the pandemic. Paul outlines how, in the event of another pandemic, providing personal respirators would offer effective protection for healthcare workers and the wider population at relatively low cost. He also outlines what the Government needs to do to ensure the UK is prepared for future pandemics, including making changes to the regulatory framework and incentivising the development of personal respirators designed specifically for infection control. Further reading on the hub: A personal respirator to improve protection for healthcare workers treating Covid-19 (PeRSo) Powered respirators are effective, sustainable and cost-effective Personal Protective Equipment for SARS-CoV-2 Respiratory protective equipment: An unequal solution for healthcare workers? A blog by David Osborn "Forgotten heroes" – the sequel: a blog and resources from David Osborn -
News ArticleAs the Trump administration contemplates new clinical trials for Covid boosters and moves to restrict Covid vaccines for children and others, parents whose children participated in the clinical trials expressed anger and dismay. “It’s really devastating to see this evidence base officially ignored and discarded,” said Sophia Bessias, a parent in North Carolina whose two- and four-year-old kids were part of the Pfizer paediatric vaccine trial. “As a parent and also a paediatrician, I think it’s devastating that we might no longer have the option to protect kids against Covid,” said Katherine Matthias, a paediatrician in South Carolina and a cofounder of Protect Their Future, a children’s health organization. Robert F Kennedy Jr, head of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has called for new trials using saline placebos for each of the routine childhood vaccines recommended by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), even though these vaccines have already been tested against placebos or against vaccines that were themselves tested against placebos. Marty Makary, the head of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Vinay Prasad, the FDA’s vaccines chief, outlined a plan in a recent editorial to restrict Covid boosters for anyone under the age of 65 without certain health conditions. For everyone else between the ages of six months and 64 years old, each updated Covid vaccine would need to undergo another randomized controlled clinical trial, Makary and Prasad said. It’s not clear when, how or whether this plan will be implemented officially. On Tuesday, top US health officials said on the social media site X that they would remove the recommendation for Covid vaccination from the childhood immunization schedule, and would also cease recommending it for pregnant people, who have much higher risks of illness, death and pregnancy complications with Covid. On Friday, the CDC appeared to contradict that announcement by keeping Covid vaccines as a routine immunization for children – though the agency now says health providers “may” recommend the vaccine, instead of saying they “should” recommend it. Changing recommendations could affect doctors’ and parents’ understanding of the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 2 June 2025
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News ArticleCuts to international aid ordered by Donald Trump have caused many African HIV researchers to fear for the future of long-term research programmes. In January, as one of his first acts after taking office, the US president froze all foreign aid and announced a 90-day review. That move and the firing of all but 15 employees at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) mean the agency has, in effect, been closed down. Also under threat are US National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants that support HIV research in Africa: cuts have affected funding for HIV-related research in specific populations, and a mechanism that awards grants to international collaborators has been suspended. US dollars have been key in mitigating the scourge of the virus, both through research and by providing lifesaving antiretroviral drugs. Salim Abdool Karim is co-founder and director of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban. He says three USAID-funded collaborative grants for HIV research and one NIH grant related to tuberculosis have been terminated, totalling US$1.4 million. The public-health physician, who founded CAPRISA with his wife Quarraisha Abdool Karim, an infectious-disease epidemiologist, says that these funding cancellations will stymie the centre’s research, which prioritises slowing the number of new HIV infections in young women and reducing deaths from HIV–tuberculosis coinfections in Africa. “All our HIV-vaccine trials, and most of our HIV-treatment trials, will be stopped as these are funded by the NIH,” he says. Although he does not expect the suspended work to result in increased deaths, “it will, however, slow scientific progress on HIV vaccines and treatment”, he adds. He doesn’t think that USAID funding will be restored. “Although it has many great scientists, the United States government is now an unreliable funding partner. We have to mobilize our own resources.” Read full story Source: Nature, 20 May 2025
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News Article
FDA says it will limit access to Covid-19 boosters for Americans under 65
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Tuesday that it will limit access to seasonal Covid-19 boosters for healthy Americans under 65 without clear evidence of clinical benefit – a shift, critics say, that will make access difficult for people who are not high risk but want to be vaccinated against the disease. Top officials at the FDA outlined a new framework for approving Covid-19 vaccines, saying that the US would make the boosters available for Americans over the age of 65 and for adults and children above the age of 6 months with at least one condition that increases their risk of severe Covid-19. The newly installed FDA commissioner Marty Makary and Vinay Prasad, the controversial director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, laid out the new guidelines in a commentary piece published in the New England Journal of Medicine. They wrote that manufacturers would have to conduct randomized, controlled clinical trials before updated vaccines would receive approval for healthier people. Elsewhere in the piece, the officials argued that the US is an outlier among countries in Europe and other high-income countries where Covid-19 boosters are recommended only for older adults and people at high risk. They estimate that more than 100 million Americans will still qualify for the annual shots under the new terms. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 20 May 2025 -
Content ArticlePresentation from David Osborn, health and safety consultant and member of the Covid Airborne Transmission Alliance (CATA), to the Safer Healthcare Biosafety Network. You can watch the video of the presentation and download the pdf presentation slides below. David Osborn, health and safety consultant and member of the Covid Airborne Transmission Alliance (CATA), has given an account of CATA’s journey through the Covid-19 Public Inquiry to the Safer Healthcare Biosafety Network (SHBN). This has been in two parts: His first presentation was delivered on 3 December 2024, just as the public hearings for module 3 (impact of the pandemic on healthcare systems) were drawing to a close. In this second presentation (28 March 2025) David updates the group on CATA's current position and summarises their final submissions to Baroness Hallett. The detail in CATA’s closing submissions to the Inquiry may be found in its written statement at this link. Links are provided in the last two slides of the attached PDF file to CATA’s letters to the Chief Nursing Officers and Ministers. 2025-03-28 SHBN Presentation.pdf It should be noted that, as at 19 May 2025: No reply has been received from the Chief Nursing Officers to CATA’s letter of 4 March. No reply has been received from the Minister (Rt Hon Ashley Dalton MP) to CATA’s letter of 18 March. CATA has therefore written again to the Rt Hon Ashley Dalton MP. The letter is attached below: cata-letter-to-ashley-dalton-mp-1-may-25 (1).pdf
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News Article
Hancock ignored call to test all NHS staff, Covid inquiry hears
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The government ignored an early warning by two Nobel prize-winning scientists that all healthcare workers should be routinely tested for coronavirus in the pandemic, the Covid inquiry has heard. The advice came in a strongly-worded letter sent in April 2020 by the chief executive of the Francis Crick Institute, Sir Paul Nurse, and its research director, Sir Peter Ratcliffe, to the then health secretary Matt Hancock. NHS and care home staff were not offered Covid tests until November 2020 in England, unless they had symptoms of the disease. Matt Hancock is due to appear at the inquiry next week, along with other health ministers from the four nations of the UK. Giving evidence, Sir Paul, who won the Nobel prize for medicine in 2001, said it was "disturbing" that he did not receive a response to his concerns until July 2020. "For the secretary of state to ignore a letter from two Nobel laureates in physiology or medicine for three months is a little surprising, I would say," he told the inquiry. "Rather than acknowledge they couldn't do it, because that would have indicated a mistake in their overall strategy, they remained silent." It was likely that the decision not to routinely test NHS and care home staff led to an increase in infections and deaths in the early stages of the pandemic, he added. Read full story Source: BBC News, 15 May 2025 Further reading on the hub: "Forgotten heroes" – the sequel: a blog and resources from David Osborn The pandemic – questions around Government governance: a blog from David Osborn -
Content Article
AHRQ's MRSA prevention toolkit: Targeting SSI
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Surgical site infections
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) toolkit for MRSA Prevention: Targeting SSI highlights four key evidence-based strategies to prevent MRSA and SSI: nasal decolonisation, preoperative skin antisepsis, antimicrobial prophylaxis and evidence-based prevention strategies. Surgical teams can incorporate concepts from the AHRQ Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Programme framework into their current care team to promote patient safety culture and enhance teamwork and communication. Access the toolkit’s extensive resources, including presentations and facilitator guides, plus staff and patient training materials to help your facility get started or supplement your existing MRSA and SSI prevention efforts. -
News ArticleA proponent of using the drug hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19 despite scant evidence of its efficacy has been named to a top pandemic prevention role at the Department of Health and Human Services, the Washington Post reports. Steven J Hatfill is a virologist who served in Donald Trump’s first administration, during which he promoted hydroxychloroquine to treat the virus in the early months of the pandemic, when vaccines and treatments were not yet available. He recently started as a special adviser in the office of the director of the administration for strategic preparedness and response, which prepares the country to respond to pandemics, as well as chemical and biological attacks. The Trump administration embraced using the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine, along with other drugs such as ivermectin and chloroquine, as treatments against Covid-19, despite concerns over both their efficacy and potentially serious side-effects. In June 2020, just months after the pandemic started, the Food and Drug Administration warned against using hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to treat Covid-19 over “reports of serious heart rhythm problems and other safety issues”, even after Trump approved the ordering of millions of doses of the drug from Brazil for US patients. Last year, a study released at the onset of the pandemic that promoted hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19 was withdrawn by the publisher of the medical journal. In an interview with the Post, Hatfill defended his support of hydroxychloroquine, which remains in use to treat diseases including lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. “There is no ambiguity there. It is a safe drug,” Hatfill said, noting that “they gave the drug to the president” in 2020. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 5 May 2025
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News ArticleDonald Trump’s slashing of foreign aid has derailed the projected end of the Aids pandemic and could lead to four million extra deaths by 2030, The Independent can reveal. New figures show the number of Aids-related deaths could jump from six million to 10 million in the next five years unless funding is reinstated, according to forecasts from the UN Aids agency (UNAIDS). The unprecedented disruption to global HIV programmes by the US is also projected to lead to more than three million more Aids orphans than previously expected by the end of the decade. Only last year, the UN said a goal to end the Aids pandemic by the end of the decade was in reach, equating to a 90% reduction in new infections and deaths. According to the UN figures, there will be 3.4 million more orphans, defined as children who have lost at least one parent to Aids. In addition, 600,000 more newborns could be infected with HIV by 2030 – more than double the number originally feared. That will bring the total number of infant infections to a million by the end of the decade, analysis of the figures by The Independent shows. Responding to the grim statistics, Professor Francois Venter, a leading HIV doctor at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, says: “All the gains that we’ve seen over the last 20 years will start being steadily reversed. “Our hospitals when I was training 25 years ago were absolutely, absolutely overwhelmed. People were dying on the floor and at the moment hospitals are full, but they will be easily overwhelmed with what’s coming.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 18 April 2025
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News Article
Trump makes sweeping HIV research and grant cuts: ‘Setting us back decades’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The federal government has cancelled dozens of grants to study how to prevent new HIV infections and expand access to care, decimating progress toward eliminating the epidemic in the United States, scientists say. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) terminated at least 145 grants related to researching advancements in HIV care that had been awarded nearly $450m in federal funds. The cuts have been made in phases over the last month. “The loss of this research could very well result in a resurgence of HIV that becomes more generalized in this country,” said Julia Marcus, a professor at Harvard Medical School who recently had two of her grants cancelled. “These drastic cuts are rapidly destroying the infrastructure of scientific research in this country and we are going to lose a generation of scientists.” In 2012, the FDA approved pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), an antiviral drug taken once a day that is highly successful at preventing new HIV infections. While the drug has been a powerful tool to contain the virus, inequities remain in accessing those drugs and sustaining a daily treatment. Despite major progress, there are still 30,000 new infections each year in the US. Many of the terminated HIV-related studies focused on improving access to drugs like PrEP in communities that have higher rates of infections – including trans women and Black men. One of Marcus’s projects was examining whether making PrEP available over the counter would increase the use of the drug in vulnerable communities. “The research has to focus on the populations that are most affected in order to have an impact and be relevant,” said Marcus. Yet, this may be the justification for defunding so many HIV-related studies. A termination letter reviewed by the Guardian dated 20 March cited that “so-called diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) studies are often used to support unlawful discrimination on the basis of race and other protected characteristics, which harms the health of Americans.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 1 April 2025 -
News Article
USA: HPV-linked cancer is becoming common in one group
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Cancer caused by the common human papillomavirus infection, also known as HPV, is increasing in some women in the U.S., researchers said this month. They found that rates of cervical cancer — which is one of the most preventable cancers and largely caused by HPV infection — have been rising among women in their 30s and 40s: many of whom weren’t eligible for HPV vaccines when they were first released in 2006. Approximately 42.5 million Americans are infected with HPV and there are at least 13 million new infections reported each year. The vaccines, which protect individuals from getting several cancers associated with different strains of America’s most common sexually transmitted infection, were originally only recommended for girls and women between the ages of nine and 26. Since then, eligibility has expanded to include individuals between the ages of 27 and 45. It is now recommended for routine vaccination starting at age 11 or 12. Although vaccination has proven to be both safe and effective, vaccine hesitancy and resistance has persisted. In recent years, it has been tied to social media. A December study from USC found that Americans are under-vaccinated for HPV, with 7% of eligible adults completing the full course. Screening is also an issue tied to the American Cancer Society study’s findings, with the percentage of women falling from 47% in 2019 to 41% in 2023. Women between the ages of 21 and 29 are the least likely to be up to date with their screenings, previous research found. Read full story Source: The Independent, 25 March 2025 -
Content ArticleDr Barry Jones, Chair of CATA/CAPA and lead for BAPEN, gives an update on CATA's ongoing campaign to achieve meaningful changes to the current IPC guidelines for healthcare and beyond. CATA has at last received a reply form the 4 Nation CNOs to CATA’s letter to them of October 2024. It contains a number of points which we have responded to in a further letter 4/3/2025. You will see that we have focussed on the legal aspects of not recognising the airborne route of transmission of Covid-19 and other respiratory pathogens. Related reading on the hub: Update on CATA's ongoing campaign around the current IPC guidelines for healthcare (11 February 2025)
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News Article
Pandemic disrupted routine vaccinations of US kindergarteners
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Yet another hidden cost of Covid-19 was revealed on Thursday as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention presented new data showing how the pandemic has dramatically impeded the US effort to vaccinate kids for other diseases. According to the CDC’s report, national vaccine coverage among American children in kindergarten dropped from 95% to below 94% in the past year – which may seem like a small amount but meant 350,000 fewer children were vaccinated against common diseases. “Overall, today’s findings support previous data showing a concerning decline in childhood immunizations that began in March 2020,” Shannon Stokley, the CDC’s immunization services deputy division director, said in a press conference on Thursday. Some of the reasons for the lower vaccination rates included reluctance to schedule appointments, reduced access to them, so-called “provisional” school enrollment, the easing of vaccination requirements for remote learners, fewer parents submitting documents and less time for school nurses to follow up with unvaccinated students. States and schools also told the CDC that there were fewer staff members to assess kindergarten vaccination coverage, and a lower response rate from schools, both due to Covid-19. “The CDC provides vaccines for nearly half of America’s children through the Vaccines for Children program,” Stokley said. “And over the last two years, orders for distribution of routine vaccines are down more than 10% compared to before the Covid-19 pandemic. “We are concerned that missed routine vaccinations could leave children vulnerable to preventable diseases like measles and whooping cough which are extremely dangerous and can be very serious, especially for babies and young children.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 21 April 2022 -
News ArticleMore than 1 in 10 school entry-age children in England are at risk of measles because they have not had their vaccine jabs, data reveals. Coverage for the two doses of MMR that helps protect five-year-olds against measles, mumps and rubella is currently at 85.5%. That is the lowest for a decade, and well below the 95% target recommended to stop a resurgence of measles. Measles is highly contagious, more than Covid, and can cause serious illness. Nine in every 10 people can catch it if they are unjabbed and exposed. As well as a distinctive rash, measles can lead to severe complications, such as pneumonia and brain inflammation, and sometimes can be fatal. Vaccination can remove almost all of these risks. Two doses of the MMR vaccine give 99% protection against measles and rubella and about 88% protection against mumps. When a high percentage of the population is protected through vaccination, it becomes harder for the disease to pass between people. But since the start of the Covid pandemic, there has been a concerning drop in the number of children receiving these vaccines on time. Experts say some parents may not have realised doctors were still offering appointments, or did not want to burden the NHS. Coverage of the first dose of the MMR vaccine in two-year-olds has now fallen below 90%. This means that more than one in 10 children under the age of five are not fully protected from measles and are at risk of catching it. Among all five-year-olds in England, 93.7% have had one dose and 85.5% have had the recommended two doses. Read full story Source: BBC News, 1 February 2022
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News Article
Parents in England urged to ensure children get MMR jab amid uptake drop
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Parents are being urged to get their children vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) after a “worrying” drop in uptake of key vaccines. Figures from NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) show 92.5% of children had had the first dose of the MMR jab at five years old by 2022-23, the lowest since 2010-11. The proportion of five-year-olds who had had the second jab by 2022-23 was 84.5%, also the lowest level since 2010-11. Vaccination programmes across England failed to meet the uptake recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the year 2022-23. WHO recommends that, nationally, at least 95% of children should be inoculated for diseases that can be stopped by vaccines, in order to prevent outbreaks. NHS data showed no routine vaccine programme met the threshold during the 12-month period. Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam, a consultant medical epidemiologist at UKHSA, said the downward trend was a “serious concern”. “The diseases that these vaccines protect against, such as measles, polio and meningitis, can be life-changing and even deadly,” she said. “No parent wants this for their child especially when these diseases are easily preventable. Please don’t put this off, check now that your children are fully up to date with all their vaccines due. Check your child’s red book and get in touch with your GP surgery if you are not sure.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 29 September 2023 -
News Article
Watch for measles, UK doctors told, as vaccine rate dips
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Doctors must be on high alert for measles as vaccine rates among young children have dipped to a 10-year low, leaving some unprotected and risking outbreaks of the highly infectious and dangerous virus, experts say. It is the first time in decades the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) has issued national guidance such as this. At least 95% of children should be double vaccinated by the age of five. But the UK is well below that target. Latest figures show only 84.5% had received a second shot of the protective measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jab - the lowest level since 2010-11. Measles can make children very sick. The main symptoms are a fever and a rash but it can cause serious complications including meningitis. For some, it is fatal. The RCPCH is worried the UK is now seeing a "devastating resurgence" of virtually eliminated life-threatening diseases such as measles, because of low vaccine uptake. Read full story Source: BBC News, 22 November 2023 -
News ArticleHealth experts have warned “we must act now” as measles cases have soared across the country amid an increase in unvaccinated children. There were 1,603 suspected cases of measles in England and Wales in 2023, new statistics from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) show. MMR cases have increased significantly in the last two years - in 2022, there were 735 cases, and just 360 the year before. On Friday, Birmingham Children’s Hospital said it had become inundated with the highest number of children with measles in decades. The hospital treated more than 50 children for the disease in the last month. Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, Chair of the UK Health Department's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, warned that unless more children are vaccinated there will be an increase in hospital admissions and even deaths. He told The Independent: “The main reason for this new outbreak is the increase in unvaccinated children in the last few years. “Vaccinations have decreased below 90 per cent and this is dangerous. The vaccine is powerful if we use it, and it will protect our children. “We must act now and the increased cases are a warning that there will be consequences if we don’t. There will be children with severe infections, brain damage and even death.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 15 January 2024
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News Article
National call for action as measles cases surge across UK
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A “national call to action” has been made by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) after a worrying surge in the spread of measles in London and the West Midlands. Professor Dame Jenny Harries, chief executive of the health board, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that people have “forgotten what measles is like”, and that children can be unwell for a week or two with symptoms including a nasty rash, high fever and ear infections. She added that the virus is highly infectious, with health officials warning that serious complications can arise that include hospitalisations and death. This comes as official figures show uptake of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is at its lowest point in more than a decade. Read full story Source: The Independent, 19 January 2024 -
News ArticleThe number of measles infections around the world could surge in the wake of coronavirus as countries are forced to suspend vaccination programmes. The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it fears more than 117 million children could miss out on being vaccinated against measles, which killed 140,000 people in 2018. Officials worry that 37 countries where the deadly virus is a major threat could delay immunisation programmes, with 24 countries already suspending their efforts as attention is focused on containing and preventing the spread of COVID-19. Read full story Source: The Independent, 14 April 2020
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News Article
Missed vaccinations could lead to other fatal outbreaks, doctors warn
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Senior doctors fear that thousands of routine vaccination appointments may be missed or delayed because of the coronavirus lockdown, raising the risk of sudden and potentially fatal outbreaks of other diseases when restrictions on movement are finally eased. GPs and accident and emergency departments have witnessed unprecedented falls in the numbers of people seeking medical care in recent weeks, prompting concerns that vital routine immunisations for infections such as measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus and whooping cough are falling by the wayside. “We are very concerned. There are no data yet because we have only been in lockdown for a month, but there are plenty of anecdotes from practice nurses and others saying they have noticed a decline in vaccine uptake,” said Helen Bedford, a professor of children’s health at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and member of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health’s health promotion committee. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 26 April 2020 -
News ArticleLast Wednesday, during President Donald Trump's first Cabinet meeting, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the head of the nation's largest federal health agency, downplayed a measles outbreak that has infected more than 150 people and killed a child in Texas. "We're following the measles epidemic every day," Kennedy said with reporters in the room during the Cabinet meeting. "Incidentally, there have been four measles outbreaks this year in this country. ... So it’s not unusual. We have measles outbreaks every year.” Two days later, Kennedy, a long time critic of well-established vaccines, seemed to backtrack from that stance and said he recognizes the serious impact of the outbreak in west Texas. The U.S. government, through the Department of Health and Human Services, is providing resources, including protective vaccines, Kennedy said in a post on X Friday. HHS is sending Texas 2,000 doses of measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR), as well as laboratory support to better track the virus, HHS also is communicating with public health officials "every day in all affected areas to support their response and ensure they have the resources they need," Kennedy posted on X. "We will continue to fund Texas’ immunization program. Ending the measles outbreak is a top priority for me and my extraordinary team at HHS," Kennedy wrote. In the past, Kennedy has opposed vaccine mandates for COVID-19 and promoted the disproven claim that childhood immunizations can cause autism. As of February 27, 2025, a total of 164 measles cases were reported by 9 jurisdictions: Alaska, California, Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, Rhode Island, and Texas, according to CDC data updated on Thursday. Of those 164 cases, 95% of the individuals are unvaccinated, the CDC reports. So far, 20% of those cases, or 32 out of 164, have been hospitalised. Read full story Source: Fierce Healthcare, 1 March 2025
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News Article
Measles, once eliminated in the USA, rises in Texas and New Mexico
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Nearly 100 people across Texas and New Mexico have caught measles, state officials said, escalating anxiety over the spread of a potentially life-threatening illness that was declared eliminated in the United States more than two decades ago. Ninety cases of measles — the majority affecting children under age 17 — were detected in Texas’s South Plains, a sprawling region in the state’s northwest, the Texas Department of State Health Services said Friday. The spread marks a significant jump from the 24 cases reported earlier this month. The DSHS warned that “additional cases are likely to occur in the outbreak area and the surrounding communities.” The United States had declared measles eliminated in 2000, meaning the disease had not spread domestically for more than 12 months. It credited the achievement to widespread inoculation campaigns after the vaccine became available in 1963. However, the national vaccination rate for measles has dropped in recent years, particularly during and after the coronavirus pandemic. Most cases recorded this year have occurred in people who were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown, the CDC said. The disease’s comeback has occurred in tandem with the rise of anti-vaccine rhetoric propagated on social media and among some public officials. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Washington Post, 24 February 2025 -
News Article
Unvaccinated child dies of measles in west Texas as outbreak worsens
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The unfolding crisis over the spread of measles in the US among communities where scepticism towards vaccines is running high has taken a turn for the worse after a person who was hospitalized with the disease died in west Texas, the first fatality in the outbreak that began late last month. A Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center spokesperson, Melissa Whitfield, confirmed the death on Wednesday. It is the first death from measles in the US since 2015. The school-aged child who died was not vaccinated, the Texas department of state health services said, and was hospitalised in Lubbock last week after testing positive for measles, per the Texas department of state health services. The measles outbreak in rural west Texas has grown to 124 cases across nine counties, the state health department said on Tuesday. There are also nine cases across the border in eastern New Mexico. Cases are concentrated in the “close-knit, undervaccinated” community, state health department spokesperson Lara Anton said. Gaines county, which has reported 80 cases so far, has a strong homeschooling and private school community. The crisis is in Texas is hitting just as the US Health and Human Services Department (HHS) falls into the hands of the notorious vaccine skeptic Robert F Kennedy Jr. Donald Trump’s pick as health secretary has promoted the debunked theory that childhood vaccinations are linked to autism, and in one of his first acts in his new job has postponed a public meeting on immunization. Kennedy on Wednesday said that the HHS is “watching” cases, though he did not provide specifics on how the federal agency is assisting. He dismissed Texas’s outbreak as “not unusual” during the first meeting of Trump’s cabinet members in the president’s second administration. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 26 February 2025 -
News Article
Measles highest in 25 years in Europe, WHO says
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The number of measles cases in the European region doubled last year to reach the highest level in 25 years, health officials say. A joint report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN children's fund, Unicef, said children under the age of five accounted for more than 40% of the cases reported in Europe and central Asia. "Measles is back, and it's a wake-up call," Hans Henri Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, said. "Without high vaccination rates, there is no health security." The MMR vaccine - which immunises people against measles, mumps and rubella - is 97% effective in fighting off the dangerous virus. Measles is a highly contagious disease which is spread by coughs and sneezes. The measles virus can lead to pneumonia, brain swelling and death. The WHO/Unicef joint analysis covering 53 countries said there had been 127,350 measles cases reported in the European region in 2024 - the highest since 1997. A total of 38 deaths had been reported up to 6 March 2025. Measles cases, they added, had been declining since 1997, but the trend reversed in 2018-19 and cases rose significantly in 2023-24 "following a backsliding in immunisation coverage during the Covid-19 pandemic". "Vaccination rates in many countries are yet to return to pre-pandemic levels, increasing the risk of outbreaks," they warned. The WHO/Unicef statement concluded that measles remained "a significant global threat" and urged governments where cases were occurring to take quick action - and those where the virus had not arrived to be prepared to act. Read full story Source: BBC News, 13 March 2025 -
Community Post
Covid-19: What is your Trust or GP practice doing to make you feel safe?
Patient Safety Learning posted a topic in Coronavirus (COVID-19)
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In a new blog on the hub, Laura Evans discusses the lack of protection against Covid-19 for vulnerable patients when going for a GP appointment or into hospital and shares her personal experience of being dismissed when asking for basic patient safety measures to be put in place. We'd like to hear your experiences. Are you a vulnerable patient? What is your Trust or GP practice doing to make you feel safe? Please comment below (sign up first for free) or you can email us at [email protected].
