COVID-19, H5N1 Avian Flu, Measles, Cyclosporiasis, Bundibugyo Ebolavirus and other Virus and Health UK and World News Update 24th July 2026
Firstly, please let me thank the NHS and all who work in her, with her and for her. And thank you to all of you who wished us well too. Just 7 months after being rushed to hospital as a very sick emergency patient, my youngest son had his heart surgery last week at Glasgow Children's hospital. It was as good an experience as you could ever hope for, the staff are all just awesome there, and my son is currently fit, well, happy, off his medications and already kicking his football around the garden. Modern science and medicine shouldn’t be confused for magic or miracles, but by crikey, I'm feeling like I just experienced both. Huge thanks to Dr Karen McLeod and her team, and all in Children's Cardiology.
On 26th July the UK got another new Health Secretary, Yvette Cooper. Yvette is a career politician who has been a Minister since 2005. She's strong on women's rights and world politics, and has been both Home and Foreign secretary, but doesn't really have any form regarding health, so fingers crossed.
Surprising news coming up next year. In Autumn 2027 the JCVI have narrowed recommended eligibility for COVID jabs to the tiniest thin line of people. No more jabs for pregnant people or anyone under age 80, unless you are on their list of immunosuppressed people or live in a residential care home for older people. It's quite staggering to be honest. I hope it doesn't come back to bite us.
The calls for the UK NHS to ditch plans to run their entire database on a £330m Palantir system are getting louder and more frequent - including from 2 cross-party parliamentary committees.
The new system is part of the '10 year plan' and designed to bring together all patient information in one place, and easily analyse it.
Health authorities began switching a while back, but several have refused, and many of those which have switched say it isn’t quicker or better to use, and the benefits aren't worth it.
Palantir and it's owners have strong links to Trump, ICE and the Pentagon, as well as the Israeli Defence Industry and other politically charged buddies, and they have a blemished history. They of course say they won't access any of our data, but they run the system, so they could choose to access all of it, and we probably wouldn't ever know. Not only that, but if the NHS cancel the contract, Palantir can just delete everything. It’s not the strongest position to put yourself in really.
The 2nd parliamentary committee has said the loss of public trust isn’t worth it, and we should develop our own system or find a suitable UK alternative.
I personally agree. Why the heck pay someone else £330m to control something we can do ourselves?
The UK NHS is so short of anaesthetists that if we had enough, we could do another 4,000 operations a day - or 1.5 MILLION a year. So, who fancies retraining? Oh, hang on. Last year there were 6,770 applications and just 539 training positions. Sooooo, I guess that won't help then.
Sometimes you can really see where we've been going wrong. For decades we've been letting poorer nations train medical staff at their own expense, and then importing them ready to go. Now it's biting back.
The UK COVID Inquiry continues, notably with publication of findings regarding procurement of PPE...
"In the scramble to respond to a global pandemic, I watched in awe as the vast majority of ordinary Britons came together with quiet decency, courage and altruism. Not quite everyone though - as today’s damning report from the UK Covid-19 inquiry chair, Heather Hallett, lays bare.
Boris Johnson’s infamous ‘VIP’ lane for PPE procurement wasted an eye-watering £10bn of public money by favouring suppliers with connections to government, despite their abject lack of experience.
Cronies like Michelle Mone squandered hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on useless, unfit-for-purpose PPE, all while lining their corrupt, bottomless coffers.
“The waste of public money was vast and could have been avoided, says Hallet. "Of approximately £14.9bn spent on PPE, nearly two thirds – almost £10bn – was wasted.”
Meanwhile, NHS doctors, nurses and care sector staff were forced to work with pitifully adequate PPE and lack of essential healthcare equipment such as ventilators. We couldn’t protect ourselves - or those in our care - from infection."
Dr Rachel Clarke, who says it far better than I ever could.
The COVID Inquiry couldn't actually discuss Michelle Mone and her husband, as they are currently going through court trying to prove they aren't opportunistic thieves who felt they were entitled to a few million quid while NHS workers caught COVID and died wearing binbags.
Gove has responded to the report by saying there were "honest errors". Aye, well maybe there were, but it was hard to spot them for all the cronyism, profiteering, lying and contract fraud.
"They made 11 million pounds for every NHS worker that died in the Pandemic."
Harry Eccles, Nurse and Trade Unionist.
(I tried to check his maths, but attempting to add up all of the NHS workers who died got depressing very quickly, and there's no clear definitive number, but what is clear is that any number is an undercount.)
As of 21st July the DRC’s MoH has reported 2,536 confirmed Bundibugyo Ebola cases and 1,033 confirmed deaths. This includes: Ituri (2,202), North Kivu (247), Haut-Uele (16), Tshopo (5) and South Kivu (3). Suspected cases (including deaths) are no longer counted.
As of 21st July the Ugandan MoH has reported 20 confirmed cases and 2 confirmed deaths, plus one suspected case who unfortunately succumbed before testing. Of the confirmed cases, 15 were imported from the DRC and 5 were secondary cases among contacts.
Last Friday, 16th July, Uganda discharged their last Ebola patient - a Congolese national who successfully recovered and returned to his family.
That marked the start of the 42-day countdown that's required before Uganda can officially declare the outbreak over.
I hope they achieve it, but with Ebola running loose through DRC it seems an almost impossible task just now.
Researchers studying the samples from 19 of the patients in Uganda are a little concerned.
Firstly around 4 out of every 5 samples don't show a clear 'family tree' or chain of infection. Not a complete surprise, but it’s frustrating to find out just how blind we are. We know lots of people in DRC are spreading Bundibugyo without even ever going to hospital or being tested, whether they have symptoms or not. These results confirm that we're missing huge numbers of hidden cases - with a disease that is incredibly deadly. It would be more welcome news if that meant people were asymptomatic, like with COVID, but around 70% of people currently dying from Bundibugyo are dying at home, so very sadly it doesn't.
Secondly, the virus that has been sequenced seems happy to mutate. This isn’t a complete surprise either. Several mutations appear in multiple samples, including some which have never been seen before. A couple of mutations have the potential to alter the 'stability' of the virus, meaning it could survive for longer outside the body. At least one has potential to 'enhance replication', meaning the virus could make copies of itself more quickly and in greater number. These 2 mutations together could make Bundibugyo really quite a formidable threat.
Following on from the Ugandan results, the World Health Organisation have said that 4 out of every 5 new Ebola patients in parts of DRC have no known link to existing patients. They suggest the outbreak could be 2 to 4 times bigger than what is known.
They also say that preliminary evidence suggests the Bundibugyo strain may cause milder symptoms than other types - this is a mixed blessing. It means more people survive (brilliant), but it also means people aren't so quick to seek medical help, if at all, and spread the virus to more people, so more people will die overall (not brilliant).
Somewhat understandably the US seems to be keeping pretty quiet about any US citizens caught up in the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak. The US CDC confirmed a US aid worker did test positive in DRC 2 weeks ago, but we have no further news on them as far as I can find. The US organised Ebola facility in Kenya, which has caused public rioting for 'offloading US risk onto Kenya', and was ordered to be stopped by the courts, still seems to be going ahead regardless. In fact it has 7 US aid workers from Samaritan's Purse quarantining in it for 3 weeks before they can fly home to the US.
Anyone who has been in DRC is still required to quarantine in a 3rd country for 3 weeks before they can enter the US, but US Government have relaxed the rules for citizens travelling from Uganda and South Sudan - they can now enter through designated airports for enhanced screening without quarantine (as a reminder Uganda has had 22 cases and South Sudan has had zero).
The Oxford University Bundibugyo Ebolavirus vaccine was completed in just 8 weeks and ready to start safety trials last week when the UK regulators gave their permission. Firstly 50 human volunteers will be recruited in the UK, and they are partnering with Uganda for further trials. The vaccine uses a dead cold virus with a small portion of the Bundibugyo Ebolavirus placed within it. The body learns to recognise it and fight it off, and it should then be seen immediately as a known threat if someone catches the actual virus. It’s the same technology used they used for the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID vaccine, and the same rapid development.
As I have said many, many times. Usual vaccine development takes decades because it is SUPER flipping expensive. When you are working on a small scale, each vaccine dose and every trial volunteer costs thousands, which adds up really quickly. Researchers have to put on a smart suit and make fancy presentations, spending months or years trawling around trying to find someone to pay for each stage of the trial. Justifying how useful it could be, how effective it has been so far, how investors can make their money back, and encouraging Governments to commit to adding it to vaccine schedules etc. When you have an urgent need for a vaccine for a virus which is killing around 1/3 of the people who catch it, and WHO or GAVI or CEPI are there with the cash waiting, it is a whole different story.
"“The Early Death Epidemic” is a mystery. We will never know why the U.S. has been reporting record death since 2020. In 2022, the U.S. reported a 40% increase in deaths among working age Americans. In 2023, 34% more Americans 35-44 died than expected, & we reported the largest increase in pediatric mortality in over 50 years. The record death never stopped, only the data & media coverage ended.
We have never looked back. The End."
Long COVID disability campaigner Laura Miers, summing up an ongoing discussion about young and working age people still dying in much higher numbers than they were before 2020, and the fact that media and governments have chosen to 'learn to live with it' as the 'new normal', rather than try to acknowledge it or do anything about it.
It isn’t just the US, and it's coming up every year when annual mortality figures are released. More people below retirement age are dying early pretty much everywhere.
Between 1st January and 20th July 2026, there have been 933 laboratory confirmed measles cases reported in England, an increase of 50 cases since the last report on 6th July. Slowing down hopefully, but still almost as many cases as the whole of last year.
The situation in Canada is really improving, with just 5 new measles cases week 5th to 11th July, for a 2026 total of 1,102 (1,020 confirmed, 82 probable).
In the US it feels like there are new measles outbreaks whenever another one seems to be coming to an end. As of 23rd July there have been 2,318 confirmed measles cases in 2026. This is higher than the entire total for 2025, which was 2,289. A very low 7% (151) have been hospitalised, and thankfully no-one is known to have died.
The World Organisation for Animal Health are warning that sustained transmission of rabies has been detected in a population of Cape Fur Seals in Southern Africa. This is "the first known establishment of rabies in a free-ranging marine mammal population".
Since 2024 over 100 infected seals have been confirmed, and genetic testing suggests it's from a single occasion when a black-backed jackal with a dog-related rabies virus variant infected a seal.
Infected animals are aggressive towards other animals and humans, and obviously will die themselves. It's of special concern because the seals travel over really extensive areas, and come into contact with all kinds of marine animals. Rabies has been a disease of land animals until this point, it'll be a sad day if it begins to spread through sea creatures.
The UK has still not reported any new H5N1 bird flu detections in captive birds since 17th April. The US has only reported 4 captive bird detections in the last 30 days (2 commercial, 2 backyard). Sadly there are 23 new detections in US dairy cattle (13 Utah, 8 Idaho and 2 Texas).
It is the Southern hemisphere which is feeling the effects of the seasonal Winter H5N1 avian flu right now, with more wild seabird cases in Australia (total to date 17), including a first suspected detection in Queensland (Petrel). At this time there have still been no detections in captive birds, mammals or wildlife in Australia. I would love to be able to believe that could remain the case forever.
Not a virus, but Iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms is being linked to the massive outbreak of Cyclosporiasis in North America. They are a HUGE US supplier. Taco Bell are to be commended here, because they voluntarily pulled shredded lettuce off the menu at least 2 1/2 weeks ago, and it was only when they did this that the CDC, Health and Human Services and the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) had little choice but to confirm there was a problem. DOGE cuts to staffing may well have affected the ability to monitor and inform businesses and the public about this outbreak, at least I hope that's the case, because if not, the CDC at minimum is just plain broken.
At this point it seems for the mass outbreak there are at least 4,173 confirmed cases and another 7,400 not yet confirmed across at least 32 US states. It appears cases are also being reported from Canada and Mexico - although there will be a handful of infections in any normal year, so without more information it's impossible to say they're linked.
Taylor Farms have issued recalls for products containing iceberg lettuce from Central Mexico - this is generally pre-prepared, chopped, bagged salad etc. supplied for hospitality (including Taco Bell, McDonalds, Jack In The Box etc) and for general public sale, including at Walmart, Costco, Target and others.
That said, Mexico would like me to remind you that THERE IS AT THIS POINT NO PROOF OF WHAT HAS CAUSED THIS.
The FDA say they are investigating a second unrelated outbreak with no links to lettuce, which has at least 72 cases and no clear cause at this point. We aren't yet being told a location for this.
Tests are also being performed on fresh parsley and coriander, as lots of sick people in North Carolina ate those too - this could even turn out to be a separate outbreak.
The FDA last week said they'd had a positive result on some separate lettuce not involved in the recall, although within 48 hours said this was a false positive - so NO PRODUCE has as yet had a positive Cyclospora test.
Testing for Cyclospora is unfortunately notoriously tricky and it's hard to get a definitive positive result.
Cyclosporiasis is a parasite spread through poo. The larvae need a week or 2 to mature to the point they can survive being ingested, so this is not a parasite that tends to be spread human to human, it comes from infected food or water. It’s so tiny that washing doesn’t always remove it all, and you can't see it by looking. Although Cyclosporiasis is only very rarely fatal, it causes horrific stomach upset that in many cases can only be remedied by combination antibiotics (the antibiotics actually prevent Cyclospora from creating vitamin B, which it needs to reproduce).
RFK Jr has paused over $1 BILLION in Medicaid funding to California and Minnesota. The HHS new 'Fraud Taskforce' identified "suspected fraud and noncompliance" using AI, and at least in California it mainly centres on in-home services, so basically support for sick and disabled people. RFK Jr says they can have the money when they prove the recipients are real and have real need for it.
Minnesota has already sued HHS this year for withholding funds, and honestly this reminds me very much of the UK Post Office scandal. Computer says 'smells like fraud' and people are deemed guilty unless they can prove otherwise.
I'd laugh, but no. In the most unsurprising news ever, a study of 1.1million older Danish people found that during the time COVID was considered a pandemic, Grandparents were 10% more likely to test positive in the week following a grandchild's birthday.
Here's your reminder that:
a. if you are a Grandparent you are probably old enough to assess and make your own decisions on that risk, and...
b. if you do not know you are contagious, it is never your fault if you pass on any illness to anyone else.
Martha Lillard, the last known US polio survivor to live in an iron lung, has died. She was 78, and caught polio as a 5 year old child. Iron lungs use negative pressure to pull on the chest from outside, to expand the patient's lungs in order that air is sucked in and the patient 'breathes'. There are now other options, including portable machines, but most use a tube down the patient's throat and Martha didn’t like them as much, so she stayed in her iron lung for most of the last 73 years.
Her cause of death is officially post-polio syndrome and chronic pulmonary failure, but her sister says she never really recovered after catching COVID, which made her ill for a very long time while her body struggled to beat it.
Unless you are in an affected area of DRC, your risk of catching Bundibugyo Ebola is almost zero. Your risk of measles or Cyclosporiasis is incredibly small, even in Michigan. Your risk of Polio is several times lower than your chance of winning the lottery jackpot. Right now your chance of catching COVID is also low. Today it's more important to remember to use sunscreen, drink enough water and look after your own mental health - so do something nice for yourself. You know you've earnt it. If you are off on holiday, have a good one. If you aren't, picnic outside and feel the breeze on your face - it's free, and available to everyone.
I shall be back in 2 weeks. Until then... Wear A Hat, Play Outdoors, and, until my dying breath, I will always advocate that we Save The NHS...
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Recurring Sources
COVID
UK Health Data
UK latest COVID cases UPDATES THURSDAY 4pm
Reference pages H5N1
https://www.paho.org/en/topics/avian-influenza
https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/situation-summary/index.html
Measles Sit Rep US CDC
UK cases Measles
Canada Measles
Image sources
Men B vaccination UK HSA NHS
Safe blood pressure levels below 140 over 90
Text sources
JCVI statement on COVID-19 vaccination in autumn 2027 - GOV.UK
Palantir
Palantir contract NHS
Ditch Palantir
NHS anaesthetist shortage prevents 1.5m operations a year, report finds | NHS | The Guardian
Dr Rachel Clarke, Doctor Oxford, regarding the UK COVID Inquiry
Boris Johnson’s govt wasted £10bn of public PPE during the coronavirus pandemic, official inquiry concludes.
Covid-19 inquiry chair, Heather Hallett, also criticised then Conservative govt's controversial “VIP lane” which gave high priority for PPE contracts to firms with political links to the Tories.
Pippa Crearer
Boris Johnson’s government wasted £10bn of public money because of the flawed way it went about buying personal protective equipment during the coronavirus pandemic, an official inquiry has concluded.
The Covid-19 inquiry chair, Heather Hallett, also criticised the then Conservative government’s controversial “VIP lane”, which gave high priority for PPE contracts to companies with political connections to the Tories.
Gove responds to the Hallett Report by acknowledging ‘honest errors’
The VIP Lane cannot be described as an honest error
It was planned and unnecessary systemic step , put in by the Conservative Party in government to give their friends and contacts priority
The National Audit Office described it as ‘unprecedented’
Not an honest error
Bruce McD
"They made 11 million pounds for every NHS worker that died in the Pandemic.
This corruption cannot go unpunished."
Harry Eccles, Nurse and Trade Unionist
Deaths of healthworkers from COVID
nhs workers dead covid
Official case counts UK Gov Ebola
UK Gov Ebola outbreak under monitoring
US CDC latest data as of 21st July
ECDC latest Ebola data 23rd July
Uganda final Ebola patient sent home
Mutation mapping and evolutionary dynamics of Bundibugyo Ebolavirus (BDBV-2026) genomes reported from Uganda
Bundibugyo Ebolavirus milder WHO
The WHO warned that most new Ebola cases in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are not linked to known patients
US citizen in Congo tests positive for Ebola virus, US CDC says
7 US citizens in Kenyan facility
health alert Uganda US embassy
UK starts first vaccine trial, eight weeks into Ebola emergency - BBC News
Early death epidemic
UK measles
US measles
Canada measles
Rabies detected in Cape fur seals highlights an unprecedented shift in rabies ecology
Australia H5N1
DAFF Australia H5N1
RFK Jr pauses $1bn Medicaid funding to California and Minnesota | Medicaid | The Guardian
cyclosporiasis
Friday parsley and coriander
Wednesday 22nd big outbreak at 4,173 confirmed, 7,400 unconfirmed.
US FDA says it is investigating another cyclosporiasis outbreak | Reuters
Thursday
"The CDC is tracking 11,500 cases of cyclospora across 41 states, including 308 hospitalizations, and the government still cannot plainly tell us where the outbreak began. The FDA says it is tied to lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms to Taco Bell, though with the kind of careful wording usually reserved for a hostage negotiation.
And now the FDA is investigating a separate outbreak, with 72 more cases and no identified source. Apparently diarrhea lettuce is franchising."
Michigan cyclosporiasis cases rise to over 6,100; gaining 1,000+ over the weekend
Cyclospora lettuce or not lettuce
Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce from central Mexico recall Cyclosporiasis
multistate outbreak cyclosporiasis
Additional sample not linked to this outbreak and recall tests positive for Cyclospora
More Cyclosporiasis info
Cyclosporiasis outbreak YLE Thursday
Walmart, Taco Bell, Jack-In-The-Box,
Taylor Farms, Sysco pull iceberg lettuce from central Mexico linked to US parasite outbreak
FDA says Taylor Farms cyclospora finding was a false positive | Reuters
Symptoms include frequent bouts of watery diarrhea, loss of appetite, & weight loss, & can persist for weeks.
Treatment is with antibiotics
The antibiotic is acting on the folate synthesis of the parasite. It isn't being used to treat infection, per se.
So it's destroying the parasite.
Gas expansion - causes bleeding
Can be ill for weeks without antibiotics - will kill people
Fresh herbs?
Canada?
A year ago, CDC made Cyclospora surveillance optional. It had been tracked for 28 years.
Today: ~3,000 cases across 31 states, no confirmed source, and CDC’s own count (843) is trailing what states are reporting by thousands.
Dr Catherine Young
Here's where cyclosporiasis is spreading as cases are confirmed in 32 states
Michigan has the highest number of cases, followed by Ohio and New York.
July 10th
FDA statement regarding false positive Cyclospora test
FDA Cyclospora false positive
Recall Cyclospora update FDA
Contagious cuteness: Children’s birthday parties spread COVID-19 to grandparents during pandemic
Martha Lillard, last known US polio survivor using iron lung, dies aged 78 | Oklahoma
Last person in iron lung dies of COVID
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