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The effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination in preventing new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections in the general community is still unclear. Here, we used the Office for National Statistics COVID-19 Infection Survey—a large community-based survey of individuals living in randomly selected private households across the United Kingdom—to assess the effectiveness of the BNT162b2 (Pfizer–BioNTech) and ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (Oxford–AstraZeneca; ChAdOx1) vaccines against any new SARS-CoV-2 PCR-positive tests, split according to self-reported symptoms, cycle threshold value (<30 versus ≥30; as a surrogate for viral load) and gene positivity pattern (compatible with B.1.1.7 or not). Using 1,945,071 real-time PCR results from nose and throat swabs taken from 383,812 participants between 1 December 2020 and 8 May 2021, we found that vaccination with the ChAdOx1 or BNT162b2 vaccines already reduced SARS-CoV-2 infections ≥21 d after the first dose (61% (95% confidence interval (CI) = 54–68%) versus 66% (95% CI = 60–71%), respectively), with greater reductions observed after a second dose (79% (95% CI = 65–88%) versus 80% (95% CI = 73–85%), respectively). The largest reductions were observed for symptomatic infections and/or infections with a higher viral burden. Overall, COVID-19 vaccination reduced the number of new SARS-CoV-2 infections, with the largest benefit received after two vaccinations and against symptomatic and high viral burden infections, and with no evidence of a difference between the BNT162b2 and ChAdOx1 vaccines. Results from the Office of National Statistics COVID-19 Infection Survey in the United Kingdom demonstrate that the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 and BNT162b2 vaccines reduce the incidence of new SARS-CoV-2 infections by up to 65% with a single dose and up to 80% after two doses, with no significant differences in efficacy observed between the two vaccines.

Information on SARS-CoV-2 in representative community surveillance is limited, particularly cycle threshold (Ct) values (a proxy for viral load). We included all positive nose and throat swabs 26 April 2020 to 13 March 2021 from the UK's national COVID-19 Infection Survey, tested by RT-PCR for the N, S, and ORF1ab genes. We investigated predictors of median Ct value using quantile regression. Of 3,312,159 nose and throat swabs, 27,902 (0.83%) were RT-PCR-positive, 10,317 (37%), 11,012 (40%), and 6550 (23%) for 3, 2, or 1 of the N, S, and ORF1ab genes, respectively, with median Ct = 29.2 (~215 copies/ml; IQR Ct = 21.9-32.8, 14-56,400 copies/ml). Independent predictors of lower Cts (i.e. higher viral load) included self-reported symptoms and more genes detected, with at most small effects of sex, ethnicity, and age. Single-gene positives almost invariably had Ct > 30, but Cts varied widely in triple-gene positives, including without symptoms. Population-level Cts changed over time, with declining Ct preceding increasing SARS-CoV-2 positivity. Of 6189 participants with IgG S-antibody tests post-first RT-PCR-positive, 4808 (78%) were ever antibody-positive; Cts were significantly higher in those remaining antibody negative. Marked variation in community SARS-CoV-2 Ct values suggests that they could be a useful epidemiological early-warning indicator. Department of Health and Social Care, National Institutes of Health Research, Huo Family Foundation, Medical Research Council UK; Wellcome Trust.

Tracking Emergence of Alpha VariantIn this report, investigators in the United Kingdom looked for clues regarding the rapid emergence and dissemination of the SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 (alpha) at the end of 2020 and in early 2021.

In early 2019, four stallions in the south of England tested positive for equine viral arteritis following routine prebreeding screening. Here, a team from Defra and the APHA describe the epidemiological investigation that was carried out to determine the origin of infection and the potential for its transmission across the country.

First off, it was the week in which Ed Miliband, Darling's leader, had spent some time talking about zombie politics. [...]it came within hours of Better Together folk promoting the idea that their chairman had indeed adopted the idea that \"blood and soil\" nationalism is at stake in Scotland's referendum.

To mitigate the effects of non-recurrent congestion on the United Kingdom motorway and trunk road network, the Highways Agency (HA) has developed the Incident Support Unit (ISU) service. This research presents a review of incident management practice in the United Kingdom, in particular on the M25 London Orbital Motorway. An international comparison between British incident management operations and those in the United States is also provided. The ISU service on the M25 motorway, operated by the HA’s service provider, Carillion plc, is critically examined, including quantitative and qualitative examinations and a benefit-cost estimation. To understand fully the influence that ISUs have on the M25 road network motorway, incident data was collected and analysed. These incidents have been examined to determine their influence on traffic flow. Specifically, their impact on the capacity of the roadway and the effect of “rubbernecking” is investigated. Investigations and analysis are undertaken to evaluate the delays experienced by motorway users due to incidents. The effectiveness of motorway matrix signals and signs are then examined including compliance rates with mandatory signals and the impact of variable message signs on driver route choice. Finally, the optimal standby locations of ISUs on the M25 sphere road network are established in order to reduce their response times to incidents.

Poor [Tony Blair] also happens to be a very odd sort of political phenomenon, a man with personalities to match his several faces. More than any of his contemporaries he marries moral fervour, apparently utterly sincere, with the style of a political hustler. One week he is touring west Africa saying true and necessary things about democracy, poverty and our responsibilities towards the developing world. In the face of much puerile criticism from his opponents he accepts obligations that much of the West, America above all, will not even recognise. A week later the same Tony Blair is exposed doing favours for a businessman whose enterprises bring scant benefit, if any, to Britain. His luck - and this is a hugely lucky politician - is to have the likes of Iain Duncan Smith leading the charge against him. Blair will probably make incurable cynics of us all, given time, but since Duncan Smith causes the flesh to creep most voters will probably go on making the best of a bad job. Tony may have added the lyrics of the pop star Shaggy to his repertoire - \"It wasn't me\" - but Duncan Smith can barely carry a tune, politically speaking. now, for encore, comes a squalid little episode, New Labour's grubby prints in every crevice, that erases the issues of aid and poverty in Africa from everyone's mind. Blair may pay a political price for his efforts on behalf of [Lakshmi Mittal], but the peoples of Africa, I would suggest, will suffer a good deal more. Help the starving or help your local billionaire: which Blair are we supposed to believe? The answer, sooner or later, will be \"neither\".

This thesis is concerned with investigating two aspects of the use of isometamidium chloride (Samorin, May and Baker, Dagenham) as a chemoprophylactic drug. Firstly, twentyfour Boran cattle were injected with 1 mg/kg isometamidium chloride to investigate the duration of drug-induced prophylaxis against infection by metacyclic forms of Trypanosome congolense, and to determine if specific antibody responses to the organisms were mounted by animals under chemoprophylactic cover. Complete protection against either single challenge by five tsetse infected with Trypanosoma congolense, or repeated challenge at monthly intervals by five tsetse, lasted for 148 days or approximately five months. Even at six months post treatment, two-thirds of the cattle were still resistant to challenge with either trypanosome-infected tsetse, or titrated doses of in vitro derived metacyclic forms of T. congolense (5x10e2 to 5 x 10e5 organisms), innoculated intradermally. No animal which resisted infection developed either detectable skin reactions at the site of the metacyclic innoculation or produced trypanosome-specific antibodies. It was concluded that drug levels in the skin were effective at preventing trypanosome multiplication, thus preventing the development of parasitaemia or priming of the hosts' immune system. Secondly, the local tissue toxicity of isometamidium chloride and its dextran complex were investigated. Four Boran cattle/ cattle were injected at different sites with 2% and 4% isometamidium chloride or 2% isometamidium-dextran complex. Sequential slaughter at 7, 28 and 56 days post injection was carried out and the innoculation sites examined for changes in gross pathology and histology. Both 2% and 4% isometamidium chloride given at a dose of 1mg/kg/injection site resulted in severe tissue damage which progressed from a necrotic, oedematous, haemorrhagic lesion at day 7 to extensive fibrosis by day 56. Isometamidium-dextran complex produced a limited well encapsulated lesion and was safe to inject subcutaneously.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa causes a wide range of severe infections. Ceftazidime, a cephalosporin, is a key antibiotic for treating infections but a significant proportion of isolates are ceftazidime-resistant. The aim of this research was to identify mutations that contribute to resistance, and to quantify the impacts of individual mutations and mutation combinations. Thirty-five mutants with reduced susceptibility to ceftazidime were evolved from two antibiotic-sensitive P . aeruginosa reference strains PAO1 and PA14. Mutations were identified by whole genome sequencing. The evolved mutants tolerated ceftazidime at concentrations between 4 and 1000 times that of the parental bacteria, with most mutants being ceftazidime resistant (minimum inhibitory concentration [MIC] ≥ 32 mg/L). Many mutants were also resistant to meropenem, a carbapenem antibiotic. Twenty-eight genes were mutated in multiple mutants, with dacB and mpl being the most frequently mutated. Mutations in six key genes were engineered into the genome of strain PAO1 individually and in combinations. A dacB mutation by itself increased the ceftazidime MIC by 16-fold although the mutant bacteria remained ceftazidime sensitive (MIC < 32 mg/L). Mutations in ampC , mexR , nalC or nalD increased the MIC by 2- to 4-fold. The MIC of a dacB mutant was increased when combined with a mutation in ampC , rendering the bacteria resistant, whereas other mutation combinations did not increase the MIC above those of single mutants. To determine the clinical relevance of mutations identified through experimental evolution, 173 ceftazidime-resistant and 166 sensitive clinical isolates were analysed for the presence of sequence variants that likely alter function of resistance-associated genes. dacB and ampC sequence variants occur most frequently in both resistant and sensitive clinical isolates. Our findings quantify the individual and combinatorial effects of mutations in different genes on ceftazidime susceptibility and demonstrate that the genetic basis of ceftazidime resistance is complex and multifactorial.