COVID-19, Long COVID, HPAI H5N1 Bird Flu, Measles, Vaccines and Other Virus UK and World News Update 19th September 2025
COVID levels in England are still slowly creeping upward, but remain at a low level. Northern Ireland seems stable and low. In Scotland and Wales they're actually creeping downward, although not in my house they aren't!
I apologise in advance for any errors or random comments because I do indeed have COVID. Refreshingly it's been over 2 years break, so we'd all recovered from our previous 3-6 monthly regular doses in Manchester. There are tons of 'word of mouth' reports that Stratos variant is rough on the tummy. I believe I can confirm, and I can see why it isn't measurable. We've all had awful tummy ache. A sore, sore belly that makes you unhappy and goes on for days. It's worse after eating, but it's not nice if you're hungry either. We've all also had times where we thought we were recovering, and then the stomachache returns. Aside from those massive differences, it's COVID - shortness of breath, tired, brain fog, cold symptoms, headache, cough, scratchy sore throat.
So, if your children are complaining of tummy ache, but aren't necessarily sick or anything else...
In the US COVID hospital admissions are up another 9% this week, and COVID levels in wastewater are now “high”. Figures are at the same levels as they were in February. Southern States like Florida and Hawaii were first to start going up and appear to have peaked, so hopefully this is the beginning of the end of about 10 solid weeks of rising cases.
Stratos variant came with a notable ripple, but thankfully not a big wave.
Today marks the first day of the new International Health Regulations (IHR). It took the World Health Organisation and most of the world's Governments 2 years to agree, and is a basis for how countries should behave when the next health emergency happens.
They learnt a lot from COVID, and excitingly have added a new higher level above Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). The new level is what we were all calling for 5 1/2 years ago - Pandemic Emergency.
"The overall waiting list for planned treatment in England has gone up for the second month in a row.
The figure for July was up 34,000 at 7.4 million., the highest since March.
The number waiting more than 65 weeks was up slightly at 11,950."
Hugh Pym, BBC Health Correspondent
The Government and NHS say the increase was due to Doctor's strikes in July, and these are August's figures - when in fact more treatments were delivered recently and everything looks better already.
Just as Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Illinois Governor Pritzker had both issued executive orders to protect COVID vaccine access, and Governors in the NE USA and West Coast (West Coast Health Alliance, WCHA) are forming groups to establish medical standards and advice, along came the big guns to back them up... If you really want to know the truth, always follow the money.
The US medical insurer's trade association AHIP, which represents employer-provided, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid managed care, and individual markets (so basically almost all US health insurers) has released a statement:
“Health plans will continue to cover all ACIP-recommended immunizations that were recommended as of September 1, 2025, including updated formulations of the COVID-19 and influenza vaccines, with no cost-sharing for patients through the end of 2026.
“While health plans continue to operate in an environment shaped by federal and state laws, as well as program and customer requirements, the evidence-based approach to coverage of immunizations will remain consistent.”
They're following the science - and the simple facts. It costs insurers more money if everyone is not vaccinated - and that cost is entirely due to increased illness. Insurers really are not stupid. They want you vaccinated against flu and COVID because it's the wisest move financially, but it's the wisest move for your health too.
NBC News have spent several months working with researchers from Stanford University to assess levels of protection from vaccine-preventable illnesses in the US. Measles, mumps, rubella, polio, whooping cough and diphtheria.
No surprises, they found that after years of declining vaccination rates, 68% of US jurisdictions do not have the 95% coverage needed for herd immunity from measles. This leaves anyone who can't gain immunity from vaccination vulnerable, including babies, people with or recovering from cancer, immunosuppressed people etcetera.
In Gaines County, Texas, where the recent measles outbreak was centred, mmr rates are 77%. The outbreak killed 3 people.
A child in Los Angeles has died from a rare long term complication of measles. Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is a fatal brain disease that usually appears several years after a child has measles. It has no cure, and most victims die within 1-3 years of diagnosis.
SSPE is where some measles virus hides dormant within the brain, and usually around 6-8 years later it begins destroying tissue. It occurs in roughly 1 in 50,000 measles infections, and risk is much higher if the patient was under 2 years when they were infected, up to 1 in 600. The only way to definitely avoid it is to not catch measles. Vaccination is the best prevention, and lower vaccination rates mean we are likely to see more of these cases as time goes on.
A bloke called Bob who writes 'Seeing The Forest For The Trees' has taken this year's NHS England GP Patient Survey data and explored what it means as regards Long COVID. It's a great article and compares with stats from previous years, plus examines inequalities depending on deprivation, sex, ethnicity and age etc.
It seems more people each year aren't sure if they might have Long COVID, but the number who are certain they do has gradually decreased over the past 2 years (from 4.8% to 4.2%). That is still 1 in every 24 people, and if the 9.5% who say they aren't sure turn out to have LongCOVID too, it goes up to 1 in 8.
On Monday RFK Jr added another 5 people to his hand-picked US vaccine advisory panel (ACIP).
- Catherine Stein, actual epidemiologist
- Hilary Blackburn, a pharmacist and director of medication access and affordability (which sounds promising)
- Kirk Milhoan, paediatric cardiologist
- Evelyn Griffin, OB-GYN
- Raymond Pollak, surgeon and transplant specialist.
The ACIP vaccine committee are half way through a 2-day meeting to discuss vaccinations, and if you think "I'm not in the US, this won't affect me", think again. It'll have a ripple around the world.
They will be voting later today on whether or not to continue the Hepatitis B jab for babies. RFK Jr went on telly or a podcast or whatever with Tucker Carlson, and said that newborns given the Hepatitis jab within 30 days of birth had a 1,135% increased risk of autism, and a CDC study was hidden so that we don’t know.
Sounds legit.... not. RFK, you're in charge of the CDC, show us your study if it's genuine. Go on.
Vaccines cause adults, not autism. He should just put down that bone because even with half the remaining CDC staff looking for him, he can't find a link - same as no-one else previously found a link either.
Reality is that very young infants are given a Hep B jab because Hepatitis can be debilitating, disabling and lifelong. When adults are infected it's more likely their immune system can beat it, but when infants under 12 months are infected, 90% develop chronic hepatitis. In turn 58% of all liver cancers are linked to chronic hepatitis. It's best avoided.
Thanks to Andrea Love at Immunologic for the figures, and a great article about this on Substack.
RFK Jr's mates at ACIP have also been discussing the MMRV jab - measles, mumps, rubella, varicella (chicken pox). The UK have literally just adopted this very vaccine option, so I'm sure new parents might be alarmed that ACIP have decided to stop recommending the 4-pronged vaccination in the US, instead they recommend MMR and separate varicella vaccination. Interestingly the ACIP group voted to maintain the MMRV vaccine through the Vaccines for Children program, which provides free vaccines to children who are uninsured or underinsured. So what are they saying? It's not good enough for richer kids, but it's okay for poorer kids? Tsk...
ACIP say the change in recommendation is due to increased risk of fever, and therefore febrile convulsions (baby 'fits').
Data shows that for every 2,500 children who get their first MMR and varicella vaccines separately aged 12-23 months, one will have a febrile seizure during the next 7-10 days. If they are given the combined MMRV vaccine, that can be two children.
A comprehensive study in 2022 found:
"1 additional child out of approximately 2500 children who receive the combined vaccine will have a febrile convulsion compared to those receiving 2 separate vaccines. In comparison, febrile convulsions due to any cause will appear in 1 out of 25 children younger than 5 years, and in 1 out of 43 children with measles."
Febrile convulsions are scary and horrible, but incredibly common, and the vast majority of children who have them recover swiftly and completely.
The reason these jabs have been put together is to increase coverage. The 2022 study authors crunched the numbers and concluded that you significantly decrease the overall number of children who will have febrile convulsions by giving the MMRV combined vaccination, rather than asking parents to come for 2 jabs. A huge number of people go for some vaccinations, but not all. They forget, they move house, life happens etc.. They do say that if your child has a known risk of febrile convulsions you might consider separating into 2 jabs, but otherwise any benefit doesn't really exist.
It was reported by the Washington Post that the US ACIP panel plan to discuss the deaths of 25 children which were reported to VAERS as occurring after COVID vaccination. Anyone can lodge a report online with VAERS, and there didn’t appear to be any red flags about any of these cases. If you take a million people, give them all a balloon and wait 6 months, some will die, but it isn’t necessarily anything to do with the balloon. It is horrific these children have been lost, and I have all sympathy for their families, but you need some sort of evidence before you can link it to vaccination.
The H5N1 Avian Flu situation is pretty much 'stable', in the US, UK and Europe. Still quiet, still a lot of people concerned about what's going to happen when migration begins again...
The Ebola outbreak in DRC continues. The outbreak began on 20th August when an infected pregnant woman was admitted to hospital. Sadly she did not survive. By 15th September there were already 81 confirmed or suspected cases and 15 losses of life, including 4 healthcare workers. By yesterday the World Health Organisation report tells us 31 of 38 confirmed cases have been fatal.
The outbreak is caused by Zaire strain Ebola, and appears to be a new spillover from an animal source, as genetic sequencing doesn’t link it to previous human cases.
DRC has a stockpile of 2,000 vaccine doses, and the World Health Organisation has helped coordinate delivery of the first 400 in Bulape Hospital at the centre of the outbreak. Unfortunately Bulape simply doesn’t have the capacity to store larger quantities of vaccines. Healthcare workers and close contacts of patients were first to be vaccinated, and using a 'ring' strategy the next roll out of vaccines will target a wider circle of contacts, in the hopes transmission can be broken. The outbreak has now spread to 4 districts, and over 900 contacts have been identified.
There’s been an horrific outbreak of Legionnaires Disease in London, Ontario, Canada. The outbreak began in early July and is still ongoing, with more cases expected.
The outbreak has been traced back to Sofina Foods, and affected people are apparently considering an $86m class action lawsuit against them for failing to properly clean a cooling tower.
As of last week 5 people have died and 96 have been hospitalised (including at least 1 who was in an induced coma for weeks). Last year the same location was identified as the source of an outbreak which killed 2 people.
Scientists were baffled as to why entire Harbour Seal colonies can be wiped out by Influenza A bird flu types (including H5N1), but Grey Seals remain largely fine and asymptomatic.
A study was conducted to investigate response to flu virus through cytokines, "which are signaling proteins responsible for initiating and regulating an immune response". Our own immune response, especially when it over-reacts by causing inflammation, can cause us great harm even when we are well (e.g. asthma, anaphylactic shock). Researchers found that when Grey Seals were infected with Flu A, they simply didn't have a strong cytokine reaction, so no over-reaction or inflammation which, in the case of flu, can quickly cause problems with breathing, or with the heart and other organs.
Understanding why the Grey Seals have this casual but effective immune response could prove to be incredibly beneficial, and not only for Harbour Seals or even just with Flu A.
CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, is "providing up to $10.4 million to work with global partners and gather real-world insights into the use of the Lc16m8 vaccine in protecting against mpox in the DRC".
This vaccine is one of 2 being used in DRC to help control the mpox outbreak. It’s been around a long while, and has been proven safe and effective. Japan uses it, and has donated 3 million doses to DRC for emergency use. The vaccine contains a severely weakened portion of virus which helps the body learn what to fight and how to beat it, and researchers can use this real-world opportunity to check that it's as effective for children and vulnerable populations as it is for healthy adults.
Oceania is the only continent that has so far not been affected by the H5N1 bird flu outbreak. They know that they're fortunate, a single infected migratory bird can change that status, and it will almost certainly happen one day. H5N1 has already killed millions of wild birds worldwide, including rare and endangered species, and Oceania has a vast number of its own rare and endangered species to protect.
Rangers in New Zealand have spent the last year vaccinating captive birds from different critically endangered species, and found the H5N3 vaccine used for poultry has induced a strong immune response which lasts at least 6 months. Now they go wild.
The Guardian have a lovely article about Rangers vaccinating the world's fattest parrot - the flightless and critically endangered kākāpō of New Zealand. There are only 250 left, and they're not the smartest bird, because they sometimes try to mate with petrels, which can carry bird flu. They need saving from their own daft behaviour - before any damage is done...
We don’t celebrate enough good news any more. We look for the bad, the salacious or the bleak. Cambodia celebrate good news. Kantha Bopha Hospital (which is basically a charity) has saved a 6 year old girl with H5N1 bird flu and they're very pleased. (So am I.)
The little girl is case 15 of the year, and was critically ill with pneumonia when she was admitted in August.
The translation reads.... "after the medical team worked hard to take care of this child for 11 days at Kunth Bopa Hospital Phnom Penh, now this child has escaped from the door and returned home with a smile".
Excellent.
It is the weekend, hurrah! No-one here needs to get up early tomorrow, I don't have to remember to ring anyone in sick, we have plenty of bread and milk for toast and hot drinks, and I'll be the one in my jamas.
I hope you and yours are all well and happy. Do not forget to treat yourself, I shall be kind to myself every possible opportunity - we've earnt it! I'll be back fit and well in 2 weeks, until then...
Wear A Mask If You Are Ill To Be Fair To Others, Open The Windows And Ventilate Regularly, Save The NHS...
Sources COVID
https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/
https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
UK Health Data
US CDC respiratory dashboard
Reference pages H5N1
https://www.paho.org/en/topics/avian-influenza
https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/situation-summary/index.html
Infectious disease tracker
Bird flu updates and news
Image sources
UK HSA image get your jabs in
STI image UK HSA
Flu Vaccine eligibility UK HSA Winter 2025 image
Image sources
Homes are too expensive images
CEPI Twitter image mpox vaccine
Sources
UK COVID update
(also see above)
US COVID Update
Weekly U.S. COVID update:
- New cases: 156,500 est.
- Admissions: 10,955 (+9%)
- In hospital: 7,952 (+16%)
- In ICU: 1,040 (+17%)
- New deaths: 412
- Average: 309 (+18%)
UK COVID stats
The IHR is live Pandemic Emergency
BBC Health Correspondent Hugh Pym
https://x.com/BBCHughPym/status/1966062237996417084?t=CNZZ9X0lSF8qRT-Vsx7etw&s=09
NHS England A&E stats
NHS Ambulance stats
Illinois is the second US state to sign an order guaranteeing access to vaccines.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has issued an executive order to protect COVID vaccine access.
Executive order 25-09 Minnesota
https://t.co/VeELsMHBeW
West Coast Health Alliance
AHIP Statement on Vaccine Coverage - AHIP
Vaccination coverage US
SSPE Measles death
SSPE info
SSPE video
SSPE explanation
https://www.encephalitis.info/types-of-encephalitis/other/subacute-sclerosing-pan-encephalitis-sspe/
Long COVID prevalence in England
RFK Jr adds 5 to vaccine panel
https://archive.is/GbKwg
Loss of expertise at CDC will cost lives
FDA says evidence re 25 child vaccine deaths, but is VAERS
RFK Jr's vaccine panel sucks
Andrea Love Immunologic Hep B
Hepatitis B
MMRV ACIP recommendations
NBC MMRV restricted
CIDRAP MMRV overview
CDC MMRV / MMR overview
CDC Febrile seizures
PubMed broader risk MMRV
Ebola DCR WHO Thursday
A new Ebola outbreak has been declared. Here’s what we know | The Independent
Ebola vaccination begins in DRC
Ebola vaccination DRC
DRC Ebola update Tuesday
DRC update from WHO - Monday week 1
DRC health depaertment new zoonotic spillover
DRC Ebola outbreak update Sunday week 1
Legionnaires London Ontario
Legionaires Canada
Grey Seal pups Flu A
Reddit discussion seals Flu A
CEPI statement mpox vaccine
Kakapo bird vaccination
Oceania bird flu sitrep
No H5N1 Australia/ New Zealand
Facebook kandha bohpa foundation
CIDRAP case 15
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. I read every one and try my best to reply!