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BBC News
28-05-2025
- Climate
- BBC News
Kent 'perfect place' for new mosquitos to enter UK, academic says
A virology researcher says Kent is a "perfect place" for new mosquito species to become established in the Jonathan Ball from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine told BBC Radio Kent that more exotic mosquito species are making "a northward charge"."We suspect that as our climate warms, these mosquitos will increase their range and that will include southern parts of Britain," he Ball was speaking after the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said on 21 May it found West Nile virus fragments in mosquitoes captured in Nottinghamshire in 2023. The UKHSA says the risk to the general public of West Nile virus is "very low" and there is "no evidence to suggest ongoing circulation of the virus" in UK mosquitos or Nile virus typically causes either very minor symptoms or none at all, but can sometimes make people seriously virus - found in many parts of the world, including Africa, South America, and mainland Europe - can kill in rare cases through serious brain human cases of West Nile virus have been acquired in the UK, but seven cases of the disease linked to travel abroad have been recorded since specific treatment or vaccines exist for virus fragments were found in Aedes vexans mosquitos, which Prof Ball says is "that pesky mosquito that you sometimes find in woodlands next to small shallow puddles".He added: "We know that these virus can often replicate in different insect species. They're pretty promiscuous in terms of the insects that they can replicate in." Prof Ball urged the public to "try and avoid" mosquito bites, which can happen at all times of day, by "covering up or using a good insect repellent".Howard Carter, the creator of Incognito insect repellent, said "a lot of people do get bitten" in Kent and that Brits "do not take enough precautions when they go abroad" either."Kent residents, more than any other county" need to take precautions, he told BBC Radio Kent on Wednesday, because "one day either Dengue or West Nile virus will be in the UK and that's an outbreak".
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The UK's own health security depends on continued investment in global disease research
By 2040, the £3 billion of global health research and development (R&D) funding invested by the United Kingdom since 1994 will have saved 1.43 million lives, averted 99 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and prevented 183 million cases of neglected disease. Behind each one of the numbers is a person, a family, a community whose lives have been saved or changed for the better. We believe that as one of the richest nations in the world, the UK has an ethical responsibility to take a lead on breakthroughs in neglected diseases. But the case for continued support and investment is much stronger than just ethical responsibility; there are widespread and measurable economic and social benefits not only in the countries where these diseases occur but in the UK itself. On world Malaria day, a new report, by Impact Global Health in collaboration with Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, found that the UK directly benefits from R&D investment into diseases like malaria, HIV and tuberculosis. It shows that the UK economy would gain an additional boost of £7.7 billion and 4,000 additional jobs by 2040 from public funding of neglected disease R&D. Some £6 billion has already been gained but around £1.5 billion, equivalent to an average of £100 million a year, is yet to be felt and is contingent on funding being sustained. And the benefits to the UK of investment in global health do not stop there. Covid-19, and the West African Ebola epidemic demonstrated that infections don't recognise geographic borders. Nobody is safe from future pandemics until everybody has access to effective diagnostics, drugs and treatments and robust health systems. Put simply: the UK's own global health security depends on continued investment in this early pipeline of global health R&D. Yet 2025 has been a challenging year for global health – with significant cuts announced to critical funding internationally and continued uncertainty about future investment. Already, many projects have been forced to pause or stop, causing a direct negative impact on the people and communities which are most in need. In an age where there are multiple calls on government and other budgets, global health R&D could be seen, mistakenly, as an easy target. But the impact of R&D funding in the UK and across the globe should not be underestimated. This latest research clearly shows how this funding has already significantly improved health outcomes and positively impacted individual lives and wider society. We must keep this momentum to realise these benefits into the future. There is a very real risk that funding cuts now or in the future will reduce the impact of what has already been achieved and will lose the opportunity to develop new products, save even more lives and create even more sustained economic benefit. Any reduction in investment could rapidly unravel the substantial progress made to date, leaving future advances in life-saving interventions in jeopardy. Now is the time for bold action to protect critical investment in this area. Every pound of funding lost will negatively impact the UK economy, make the UK more vulnerable to future pandemics, and most importantly, expose the most vulnerable communities around the world to greater health threats. The UK has been a leader in funding and conducting research and development targeted at neglected diseases over the last two decades. Along with saving countless lives within some of the world's poorest communities, that investment has had real health and economic benefits in the UK. Professor David Lalloo is Vice Chancellor of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Professor Liam Smeeth is Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
25-04-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
The UK's own global health security depends on continued investment in disease research
By 2040, the £3 billion of global health research and development (R&D) funding invested by the United Kingdom since 1994 will have saved 1.43 million lives, averted 99 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and prevented 183 million cases of neglected disease. Behind each one of the numbers is a person, a family, a community whose lives have been saved or changed for the better. We believe that as one of the richest nations in the world, the UK has an ethical responsibility to take a lead on breakthroughs in neglected diseases. But the case for continued support and investment is much stronger than just ethical responsibility; there are widespread and measurable economic and social benefits not only in the countries where these diseases occur but in the UK itself. A new report, by Impact Global Health in collaboration with Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, found that the UK directly benefits from R&D investment into diseases like malaria, HIV and tuberculosis. It shows that the UK economy would gain an additional boost of £7.7 billion and 4,000 additional jobs by 2040 from public funding of neglected disease R&D. Some £6 billion has already been gained but around £1.5 billion, equivalent to an average of £100 million a year, is yet to be felt and is contingent on funding being sustained. And the benefits to the UK of investment in global health do not stop there. Now is the time for bold action Covid-19, and the West African Ebola epidemic demonstrated that infections don't recognise geographic borders. Nobody is safe from future pandemics until everybody has access to effective diagnostics, drugs and treatments and robust health systems. Put simply: the UK's own global health security depends on continued investment in this early pipeline of global health R&D. Yet 2025 has been a challenging year for global health – with significant cuts announced to critical funding internationally and continued uncertainty about future investment. Already, many projects have been forced to pause or stop, causing a direct negative impact on the people and communities which are most in need. In an age where there are multiple calls on government and other budgets, global health R&D could be seen, mistakenly, as an easy target. But the impact of R&D funding in the UK and across the globe should not be underestimated. This latest research clearly shows how this funding has already significantly improved health outcomes and positively impacted individual lives and wider society. We must keep this momentum to realise these benefits into the future. There is a very real risk that funding cuts now or in the future will reduce the impact of what has already been achieved and will lose the opportunity to develop new products, save even more lives and create even more sustained economic benefit. Any reduction in investment could rapidly unravel the substantial progress made to date, leaving future advances in life-saving interventions in jeopardy. Now is the time for bold action to protect critical investment in this area. Every pound of funding lost will negatively impact the UK economy, make the UK more vulnerable to future pandemics, and most importantly, expose the most vulnerable communities around the world to greater health threats. The UK has been a leader in funding and conducting research and development targeted at neglected diseases over the last two decades. Along with saving countless lives within some of the world's poorest communities, that investment has had real health and economic benefits in the UK.
Euronews
20-04-2025
- Health
- Euronews
Why is tuberculosis, the world's deadliest infectious disease, on the rise in the UK?
ADVERTISEMENT Anja Madhvani was already sick when she ran out of water in the middle of the desert. She'd travelled from the United Kingdom to run an ultramarathon in Morocco in 2018, but couldn't seem to keep enough food down. Camping in the evenings, she was feverish. When she coughed, blood came up. Then the hallucinations started. 'I was on my own in this expanse of baked earth,' Madhvani, now 35, told Euronews Health. 'And I just had this physical feeling that I was dying'. When she finally finished the race and made it back to the UK, doctors told her she had the flu, then a chest infection. X-rays and phlegm testing later confirmed Madhvani actually had tuberculosis (TB) – making her one of about 6.9 million people worldwide to be diagnosed that year. It took Madhvani 11 days in a hospital isolation unit and nearly a year of daily pills to recover from the disease, and another year to feel like herself again. Related Global aid cuts are 'crippling' the fight against the world's deadliest infectious disease, WHO says 'Progress was so slow,' said Madhvani, an event manager in Leeds. 'I had been walking around for quite a while with this deadly thing inside of me, and I had no idea… Some of those things still linger a little bit'. TB is often thought of as a relic of the 19th century, when 'consumption' was believed to be responsible for a quarter of all deaths in the UK. But it remains the world's deadliest infectious disease, killing an estimated 1.25 million people in 2023. TB mostly affects countries in Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Western Pacific, and it is often called a 'social disease' because of its close links to poverty. After a downturn during the COVID-19 pandemic, wealthy countries like the UK are now seeing a resurgence of TB that experts say is the canary in the coal mine for other health issues related to social deprivation – everything from other infectious diseases to chronic conditions like diabetes. 'Because TB is the archetypal disease of poverty… it really is a sentinel for other conditions,' Dr Tom Wingfield, an infectious disease doctor and deputy director of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine's Centre for TB Research, told Euronews Health. TB cases up across the UK England reported 5,480 TB cases last year, up 13 per cent from 2023 on top of an 11 per cent increase the year before – the biggest annual jump since at least 1971. Related Tuberculosis cases are up among kids in Europe and Central Asia, health authorities warn It's now common enough that a clinic in East London, which has more new TB cases than anywhere else in Western Europe, is opening a £4.63 million (€5.55 million) centre for TB patients . It treated 294 patients last year. TB is caused by a bacteria that can lie dormant in the lungs for decades before attacking the rest of the body, notably the spine and brain. The only vaccine currently available helps prevent the disease among young children, but is not effective for adults. ADVERTISEMENT Most new cases in England have been among immigrants who may have been infected years before their arrival. But for the second year in a row, TB cases are also on the rise in England among those born in the UK after they'd fallen every year since 2012. Infections are also up in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The uptick in cases is likely due in part to disruptions in medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning a backlog of TB infections is only now being detected. Related Public programme to give poor people cash reduced tuberculosis cases and deaths, study finds It's a big enough increase that these delays are likely only part of the story. ADVERTISEMENT TB risks are higher among people who are homeless, living in crowded settings, currently or formerly imprisoned, have a history of drug or alcohol misuse, or are grappling with undernutrition. As of late 2024, just 13.1 per cent of England's TB patients aged 15 or older reported at least one social risk factor – but with data missing, it's likely an undercount. 'We know pretty well from the figures where the rises are coming from. The why is still a bit of a mystery,' Paul Sommerfield, executive trustee of TB Alert, a non-profit focused on TB in the UK and India, told Euronews Health. How to combat TB Earlier this month, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) asked experts to weigh in on an updated 5-year action plan to better prevent, detect, and control TB in England. ADVERTISEMENT The current plan aimed to curb delays in diagnosis like the one Madhvani faced, have most patients finish their treatment, do more testing for TB, and ensure health workers can spot the signs of TB. Related UK PM Starmer announces major healthcare reform as public sector cuts take shape But it's still unclear whether enough money will be attached to the new plan, particularly for efforts to raise awareness in high-risk communities about symptoms and how to access medical care, Sommerfield said. The UKHSA declined to answer questions about the new plan's priorities or budget. In a statement issued to Euronews Health, Dr Esther Robinson, head of the agency's TB unit, called the disease a 'serious public health issue' and urged people to get tested if they have symptoms, including a persistent, mucus-ridden cough. ADVERTISEMENT Wingfield has some ideas for the plan. He wants more screenings for new immigrants at risk of TB, given few eligible people are actually tested, and suggested that employers who recruit from overseas could help fund the programme. He also wants the government to collect more information on TB patients' social and financial problems, so they can be connected to housing, food banks, and other services. Many TB doctors in the UK 'have given money from out of their pocket to somebody that they've looked after to get food, to pay for a bus… or because they're just in a dire situation,' Wingfield said. Related Having a poor socioeconomic background could speed up biological ageing, new study finds Meanwhile, Madhvani pointed to gaps in mental health support for TB patients, particularly once they wrap up treatment. ADVERTISEMENT 'I don't think that the system understands how frightening it is and how lonely it is, especially when you finish treatment and then you're just spat out into the world. There's no more follow-up,' she said. Identifying TB early to make treatment easier One bright spot is that few UK patients have forms of TB that are resistant to drugs, which can make it harder and more expensive to treat. Drug resistance poses a bigger problem in countries where people struggle to access medical care or stop treatment early. The drugs cause sometimes painful side effects, and people are supposed to take them every day for four to nine months. 'We have a fairly good system for dealing with TB, but it's a matter of finding people soon enough to treat them properly,' Sommerfield said. ADVERTISEMENT Related Antibiotic-resistant superbugs could kill 39 million people by 2050, researchers warn Some people who are infected with TB never go on to develop the disease. But rooting out infections early is critical for patients like Madhvani. She doesn't know how she got TB. But before her diagnosis, she unknowingly infected her partner, friends, family members, and colleagues. Most didn't go on to develop the disease, but her mother did, and she is still struggling with health complications seven years later. Another person Madhvani infected had latent TB, but no disease yet. Doctors put him on medication to stave off illness, but he stopped taking it early. ADVERTISEMENT Years later, 'he sent me a photo of him in hospital, emaciated… and he looked more unwell than I ever was,' Madhvani said. Her gut reaction was anger that he hadn't taken TB seriously enough. 'I don't think people understand what it will do to you if you don't get it sorted,' she said. 'It doesn't matter how wealthy you are, whether you've travelled or not travelled. If you come into contact with it, you're at risk'.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Mosquitoes beware – your next meal could be your last
A drug used to treat rare genetic disorders also makes human blood lethal to mosquitoes, research has shown, raising hopes for a new weapon against malaria. Nitisinone is already used to slow the effects of tyrosinemia type 1, a hereditary condition that can cause severe liver disease and kidney failure, and other diseases. But it also makes any mosquitoes that ingest it unable to digest the blood they feed on, killing them rapidly, research led by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) found. The study, published in Science Translational Medicine this week, showed that the drug blocks an essential enzyme mosquitoes need to break down their food. Tests showed a small amount of the drug was even able to kill mosquitoes that have developed the ability to resist conventional insecticides – an increasingly widespread problem that has slowed efforts to combat malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases. 'What makes nitisinone so exciting is its novel mode of action against blood-feeding insects like mosquitoes,' said Dr Lee Haines, an Honorary Fellow at LSTM and one of the authors of the study. 'Unlike conventional insecticides that target the mosquito's nervous system, nitisinone targets an entirely different biological pathway in mosquitoes, which offers a new option for managing the growing problem of insecticide resistance.' The study followed earlier research which first validated the theory that nitisinone could be used to kill insects that feed on blood. It proved highly effective at killing tsetse flies that spread sleeping sickness. While the drug does not prevent a feeding mosquito from infecting someone with a virus, it could provide a new tool to combat the spread of disease by thinning out their populations, the researchers believe. Several insecticides are already widely used in this way, such as ivermectin, a medicine usually used to treat parasitic infections in animals and people and which shortens the lifespan of any insect that ingests it. But ivermectin, while abundant, is toxic in the environment and insects can also develop resistance to it when it is overused. 'Billions of doses have been given to people for the worming campaigns,' said Professor Álvaro Acosta Serrano, another of the study's co-authors. 'Ivermectin is obviously a very popular veterinary drug, so in farms it is polluting the soil and that has some ecological issues.' As well as being much less harmful to other insects or animals in the ecosystem, nitisinone has the added advantage of lasting much longer in the body, he told The Telegraph. 'Nitisinone, because it has a much longer half life in blood – 54 hours compared to Ivermectin which is only 18 hours max – it has much better performance.' As well as helping to suppress mosquito populations by killing those that unwittingly feed on humans carrying nitisinone, the drug could be used against mosquitoes in numerous other applications. It could be used in the sugar-based bait traps currently being tested around the world which lure in mosquitoes and poison them, or it could be sprayed on to bed netting and buildings to get into mosquitoes that way. The researchers are already planning to investigate whether the drug could be given to cows and other livestock animals to turn them into unwitting reservoirs of death for the insects that feed on them. 'This is a very versatile molecule,' Prof Acosta Serrano said. Because it was originally developed to be a herbicide, it has many properties that make it ideal for use in these kinds of applications, including good resistance to UV light, he added. Before all this though the researchers say more work is needed, including safety studies looking at different dosages. They are also yet to study how the drug interacts with antimalarials. Another major challenge is cost. While ivermectin has been produced cheaply by generic drug manufacturers for decades and has been donated in vast quantities to tackle diseases like river blindness, nitisinone – despite being off-patent – remains expensive. 'We need to convince a company to drop the prices because, for vector control use, interventions have to be really cost effective,' said Prof Acosta Serrano. And while nitisinone promises to provide another tool with which to combat mosquito-borne disease, we are still waiting for scientific breakthroughs before we will be able to beat malaria. 'It's important to know that there is not a silver bullet to control any of the vector borne diseases, especially malaria,' he said. 'We still need to come out with better drugs. There is a huge problem with parasites that become drug resistant. We still don't have a completely efficacious vaccine available.' Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
