Cases of measles in children under the age of 10 spiked in 2024, with 433 cases in infants under 3 months of age, of whom 10 died, the UK Health Security Agency’s first annual report into infectious diseases has shown.
The report, Infectious diseases impacting England: 2025 report, shows the re-emergence, re-establishment and an unrelenting rise in a number of infectious diseases since 2022 to 2023, with particular increases in endemic diseases and vaccine-preventable infections. The agency acknowledges that the return of social mixing, international travel and migration following the COVID-19 pandemic have contributed to these patterns.
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‘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,’ said Richard Pebody, Director of Epidemic and Emerging infections at UKHSA.
‘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.’
UKHSA analysis found that over 20% of secondary care bed days in 2023 to 2024 in NHS hospitals (admitted care) were primarily attributable to infectious disease, at a cost of £5.9bn. These infections are also distributed unevenly; in England, from 2023 to 2024, hospital admission rates due to infectious diseases and infections were nearly twice as high for people in the 20% most deprived areas compared to the least deprived. UKHSA is undertaking further work to better understand these disparities.