Rabies is one of the most serious infections in travel health medicine, yet surprisingly one of the most neglected. For UK travellers heading abroad, the risk is often dismissed as unnecessary or something that “only happens to other people.” But rabies is almost always fatal once symptoms appear and recent real-life cases show that complacency […]
Meningococcal disease remains relatively uncommon, but recent increases highlight the need for continued vigilance. In 2024–25, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) recorded 378 cases of Invasive Meningococcal Disease (IMD), up from 340 the previous year. MenB was responsible for the vast majority of cases (82.6%), followed by MenW (11.3%), MenY (3.4%), and MenC (0.8%) […]
This October we mark International Infection Prevention and Control Week, which runs from 19 to 25 October 2025. It is a simple reminder that the small things we do every day protect patients, colleagues and families. Over the past few years we have all seen how quickly infections can spread and how easily services become […]
When people hear that I am a travel health nurse, they often imagine me travelling to every country in the world administering vaccinations, while lounging on a beach, catching a tan. However, my work is much more dynamic and varied than that and I am certainly not lounging on a beach administering vaccinations to people. […]
Vaccination has dramatically reduced cases of rubella across the UK and worldwide, but maintaining high levels of immunity remains essential. While rubella most often causes mild illness, infection during pregnancy can have devastating effects on the developing baby, reminding us why ongoing awareness and vaccination are so important. At Health Academy, we use the 4T’s […]
Vaccination has made huge strides in reducing once-common infections, but some diseases still find opportunities to resurface. Mumps is one of them, with clusters continuing to appear in the UK, particularly among teenagers and students where MMR uptake is incomplete. These cases remind us why understanding the infection, and keeping vaccination coverage high, continues to […]
As the 2025/26 flu season approaches, healthcare teams across the UK are gearing up to deliver one of the NHS’s most important annual vaccination programmes. Every year, seasonal influenza places huge demands on the health service, increasing pressures in primary care, pharmacies, care homes, and hospitals. For frontline staff, being fully prepared is essential, not […]
From January 2026, children across England will, for the first time, be offered a free NHS vaccination against chickenpox as part of the routine immunisation schedule. Delivered via a combined MMRV vaccine (measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella), this rollout represents the first addition to the childhood vaccination programme since MenB was introduced in 2015. The […]
With outbreaks of vaccine-preventable disease on the rise globally, it’s more important than ever to understand the illnesses we’re protecting against. In this latest entry of our 4T’s series, we’re spotlighting measles, a highly contagious virus that remains a serious public health concern, especially in communities with low vaccination uptake. At Health Academy, we use […]
If you’re a practice nurse, healthcare support worker, pharmacist or anyone who works in immunisation, and you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed by the ever-evolving UK vaccine schedule changes… let’s just start with this: you’re absolutely not alone. Keeping up is proving tough for all of us. New vaccines. Revised eligibility. Tweaked timings. Shifting advice depending […]
