HPR volume 16 issue 5: news (13 June 2022)

Q: Zoonoses quarterly report

The UK Health Security Agency ( UKHSA ) has published Common animal-associated infections (England and Wales): first quarter 2022 . It presents data on confirmed (and probable for leptospirosis) cases of selected zoonoses reported in England and Wales between January and March 2022, including commentary on the quarterly trends in hepatitis E, leptospirosis, and Lyme disease cases. The latest data on laboratory-confirmed Lyme disease, presented broken down by quarter between 2018 and 2022, is consistent with the established pattern of cases peaking in the spring and summer months. The total number of laboratory-confirmed acute cases during the first quarter of 2022 was higher than the same period in the previous year (92 in Q1 2022, compared to 59 in Q1 2021). A recent UKHSA blog provided up-to-date information about what Lyme disease is and why we need to be ‘tick aware’ .

Updated 30 December 2022

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-protection-report-volume-16-2022/hpr-volume-16-issue-5-news-13-june-2022

Zoonoses quarterly report

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has published Common animal-associated infections (England and Wales): first quarter 2022. It presents data on confirmed (and probable for leptospirosis) cases of selected zoonoses reported in England and Wales between January and March 2022, including commentary on the quarterly trends in hepatitis E, leptospirosis, and Lyme disease cases.

The latest data on laboratory-confirmed Lyme disease, presented broken down by quarter between 2018 and 2022, is consistent with the established pattern of cases peaking in the spring and summer months. The total number of laboratory-confirmed acute cases during the first quarter of 2022 was higher than the same period in the previous year (92 in Q1 2022, compared to 59 in Q1 2021).

A recent UKHSA blog provided up-to-date information about what Lyme disease is and why we need to be ‘tick aware’.

Diphtheria annual report

UKHSA has published its latest annual report on diphtheria in England, which notes an increase in cases of the rare infection over the last 10 years.

The overall trend over the past decade, the annual report notes, has been an increase from an average of 2 to more than 10 cases per year. This is probably attributable to a fall in vaccination coverage, including that due to the COVID-19 pandemic and, possibly, increased contact with infected companion animals.

Whereas toxigenic Corynebacterium ulcerans infections were previously associated with consumption of raw dairy products, they have become more recently associated with companion animals. Of the 10 individuals with confirmed toxigenic diphtheria in 2021, 7 cases were infected with C. ulcerans, of whom 2 died. All C. ulcerans cases notified since 2009, including the 2 fatalities in 2021, had contact with companion animals.

In light of the changing diphtheria epidemiology, revised guidance on public health management of diphtheria was published earlier this year and national actions are ongoing to better understand corynebacteria carriage, levels of population immunity and improve sub-optimal vaccine uptake in particular populations.