Summer health watch summary: 7 august 2014

* Public Health England Research and analysis SUMMER HEALTH WATCH SUMMARY: 7 AUGUST 2014 Published 24 July 2014 CONTENTS * 1. Summary of environmental hazards * 2. Health impacts * 3.

Surveillance reports * 4. Sources of further information Print this page © Crown copyright 2014 This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where

otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9

4DU, or email: [email protected]. Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. This

publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-health-watch-2014/summer-health-watch-summary-7-august-2014 1. SUMMARY OF ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS 1.1 HEATWAVE On

16 July 2014 a level 2 heatwave alert (alert and readiness) was issued for the West Midlands, East Midlands, South East, East of England and London regions. On the 20 of July 2014 the

heatwave alert level reverted to level 1 (heatwave and summer preparedness programme) for all regions. England has remained at heatwave alert level 1 since. 1.2 SOLAR UV RADIATION The Public

Health England (PHE) solar radiation monitoring stations across the UK reported typical peak UV Index values for this time of year. However, the weather was much more changeable than the

previous 2 weeks. The only site with a clear day was Lerwick (31 July 2014) with a UV Index of 5 (moderate). Camborne, Cornwall, experienced the highest UV Index of 6 (high); Swansea, London

and Chilton recorded peaks of UV Index 5 (moderate) on some days; with Leeds, Belfast, Glasgow and Inverness recording peak values of 4 (moderate). 1.3 AIR POLLUTION Daily information on

air quality and measured levels of air pollution across the UK is available from the UK AIR: Air information resource 2. HEALTH IMPACTS 2.1 SYNDROMIC SURVEILLANCE Heatstroke consultations

decreased in week 31. There has been a slight rise in diarrhoea and gastroenteritis consultations over the past week. 2.2 LABORATORY SURVEILLANCE Gastrointestinal disease activity is around

seasonally expected levels. The number of laboratory reports of the major gastrointestinal pathogens (campylobacter, salmonella, cryptosporidium, norovirus) in the season to date are similar

to the 5-year seasonal average. However, the number of Salmonella Enteritidis PT 14B laboratory reports nationally has exceeded expected levels in recent weeks and is the subject of a

national outbreak investigation. Salmonella Enteritidis PT 1 has also recently exceeded expected levels in parts of the country. 2.3 MORTALITY SURVEILLANCE In weeks 29 and 30 of 2014, no

excess all-cause mortality by week of death was seen across the UK through the EuroMOMO algorithm. 3. SURVEILLANCE REPORTS * PHE Real-time Syndromic Surveillance * PHE all-cause mortality

surveillance 4. SOURCES OF FURTHER INFORMATION * Met Office Heat-health watch * Heatwave plan for England * NHS Choices * Met Office Get ready for Summer * UV Index graphs * UK-AIR: Air

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