Winter health watch summary: 13 November 2014

Published 26 March 2015

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1. Summary

All regions of England have been at Cold Weather Alert Level 1 ‘winter preparedness and action’ since 1 November 2014.

Influenza activity is at low levels in week 45 2014 (ending 9 November 2014), however RSV continues to circulate, predominantly in under 5 year olds.

Syndromic surveillance indicates nothing new to report during week 45. Selected respiratory indicators continued to rise across all systems during week 45, particularly in infants; in line with seasonal expectations and recent increases in laboratory reports for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

The number of laboratory reports of norovirus in the season to date is higher overall than the 5-year seasonal average (from season 2009 and 2010 to season 2013 and 2014). However, the number of laboratory reports in the last 3 weeks is similar to the average. Reports of outbreaks of diarrhoea and vomiting in hospitals continue to be reported at similar levels to previous years.

Rotavirus activity is low; laboratory reports are slightly lower than the 10 season average (from season 2003 to 2004 to season 2012 to 2013). The decreased rotavirus activity is likely to be associated with the introduction of the oral vaccine in July 2013.

In week 45 of 2014, no excess all-cause mortality by week of death was seen across the UK through the EuroMOMO algorithm.