The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has published their first annual report summarising the latest infection disease trends, and contains data from 2023 to early 2025. This will be key in outlining the steps the UKHSA, in collaboration with the wider Department of Health and Social Care, will need to take to tackle these threats.
The Infectious diseases impacting England: 2025 report presents a rise in both endemic disease and vaccine-preventable infections Infectious diseases were responsible for over 20 per cent of hospital bed usage, costing almost £6 billion in 2023-24 annually.
The report highlights a threatening re-emergence, re-establishment, and an unrelenting rise in a number of infectious diseases since 2022-23, particularly in endemic diseases and vaccine-preventable infections, holding the return of social mixing, international travel, and migration after COVID-19 as accountable for this.
Public health preventions have shown huge positive impacts, as detailed in the report.
An intense influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) season swept across the nation in 2024-25, for the second consecutive year after the pandemic, with activity and hospital admissions at smilier levels seen post-pandemic in 2022-23. The introduction of the new RSV vaccine programmes for the alertly and pregnant woman have been shown to already be reducing winter pressures.
COVID-19 transmission has declined, with the virus circulating at baseline levels for the majority of the winter season.
Tuberculosis (TB) cases are rising, worryingly increasing by 11 per cent in 2023 to 2022, which threatens the UK’s World Health Organisation (WHO) low incidence status if not reversed. The number of people living with hepatitis C (HCV), however, has fallen dramatically by 57 per cent from 2015 to the end of 2023.
It is important to note that diseases and infections were nearly twice as high for those in the 20 per cent most deprived areas compared to the least deprived. UKHSA is undertaking further work to better understand these disparities.
Richard Pebody, director of epidemic and emerging infections at UKHSA, said: “It is clear that a number of factors altered the rates and impact of endemic and epidemic infectious diseases in England over recent years, and the reductions in transmission related to the COVID-19 pandemic have been followed by a rise in a range of infections since 2022 to 2023 due to the return of social mixing, international travel and migration.
“We have also seen vaccine uptake decrease for a number of infectious diseases, including measles, whooping cough and in certain groups eligible for the flu vaccine, such as under 65 at risk, pregnant women and health care workers.
“This winter has demonstrated that rises in rates of infectious diseases can cause significant strain, not only on the individuals directly affected, but also on the NHS. It is vital that we are not complacent about infections where we can reduce the burden of disease via interventions such as our world-class vaccination programmes.”
