Suspected or confirmed cases of Norovirus and Yersinia will soon have to be reported to government health officials by laboratories in England. The move is part of a decision to amend the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010. Subject to parliamentary approval, the updated legislation will come into force in April 2025.
Beginning on April 6, 2025, registered medical practitioners, such as doctors, in England will have a statutory responsibility to report suspected or confirmed cases of the covered infectious diseases to a relevant contact in the local authority, which is usually the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) regional team. Laboratories that test human samples in England would need to report an additional 10 causative agents, not currently notifiable, to UKHSA. These include Norovirus, Tick-borne encephalitis virus, Echinococcus, Trichinella, Toxoplasma (congenital toxoplasmosis), and Yersinia.
This section already includes Campylobacter, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella, and E. coli O157. For medical practitioners, another eight infectious diseases have been included, such as Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), influenza of zoonotic origin, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD).
This section already includes botulism, food poisoning, and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Changes aim to strengthen surveillance of, and public health response to, these diseases. Placing a legal duty on medical staff to report suspected cases of notifiable diseases helps p.