HPR volume 14 issue 17 (29 September and 5 October)
Updated 23 December 2020
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UK flu immunisation programme: new resource for health professionals
Health matters: delivering the flu immunisation programme during the COVID-19 pandemic is the latest in the PHE series of resource packages that cover particular challenges faced by public health professionals, local authorities and, in this case particularly, employers of NHS and social care staff.
The new resource focuses on plans for the delivery of an expanded NHS-funded flu immunisation programme this winter. It will be the largest national programme to date, offering 30 million people a vaccine, and the first during which there will be co-circulation of flu and COVID-19.
It includes a call to action to employers to ensure that 100% of frontline health and social care workers are offered the flu vaccine this winter.
The resource refers to recently published research that examined the interactions between flu and COVID-19, and the impact of co-infection on disease severity. The increased risk of negative outcomes for COVID-19 patients who are co-infected with flu was quantified.
The number of people eligible for the vaccine this winter will be progressively expanded to ensure that at-risk groups are initially prioritised to receive the vaccine.
The new edition of Health Matters brings together:
- background to the programme with particular reference to the unique circumstances applying this winter
- full details of newly eligible groups
- details of the expanding childhood flu immunisation programme
- trend data on vaccine uptake by eligible groups in recent years
- infographics and links to key source documents and campaign resource materials
New statutory duty on reporting results of antimicrobial susceptibility testing
Public Health England’s NIS Standards Unit recently issued updated recommendations for laboratories on testing for acquired carbapenemase-producing Gram-negative bacteria, ahead of a new reporting duty which came into force on 1 October 2020.
Diagnostic laboratories in England now have a duty to report the results of any antimicrobial susceptibility test and any carbapenem resistance mechanism identified in any of the causative agents listed in Schedule 2 of the relevant Regulations (SI 674/2020), where this is known to the operator.
The updated recommendations are contained in the UK SMI B60 Detection of bacteria with carbapenem-hydrolysing beta-lactamases (carbapenemases).
The new UK SMI makes recommendations on screening and detection of acquired ‘carbapenemases’ (carbapenem-hydrolysing β-lactamases). It is intended for use when testing for carbapenemase producers is carried out in the following circumstances:
- setting 1: screening of clinical samples for the presence of carbapenem resistance in particular carbapenemases
- setting 2: preliminary detection of carbapenem resistance in cultured isolates from clinical samples
- formal confirmation of carbapenem resistance by susceptibility testing of suspected isolates
Because carbapenems are antimicrobials of last resort, they are crucial for preventing and treating life-threatening nosocomial infections. Five main carbapenemase families – the so-called ‘big five’ which may confer resistance to carbapenems – have significant circulation in the UK and have been the focus of increasing microbiological surveillance in recent years.
Infection reports in this issue of HPR
Laboratory-confirmed cases of pertussis in England: April to June 2020.
Laboratory-confirmed invasive meningococcal infection in England: April to June 2020.
Routine reports of gastrointestinal infections in humans (England and Wales): July and August 2020.