On 14 May 2019, Health Protection Scotland (HPS) published the following gastrointestinal surveillance reports for 2018: 

• hepatitis A 
• hepatitis E 
• listeria 
• norovirus 
• shigella

On 14 May 2019, Health Protection Scotland (HPS) published its 2018 report on laboratory-confirmed travel-related infections in Scotland. This report summarises:

• recent travel trends as a context 
• laboratory notifications of travel-related significance

UK travel abroad continues to increase and among the pathogens reported, gastrointestinal infections are again the most commonly reported. Food and water hygiene remain essential for protecting the health of the travelling public, among others.

A disease outbreak news update from the World Health Organization (WHO) provides a breakdown of measles cases in the European region, with ten countries reported to be endemic for measles (Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia and Ukraine).  Countries reporting measles cases continuously over 12 months or more are required to provide a detailed epidemiological and molecular epidemiology analysis and to document absence of continuous transmission or re-established endemic transmission.

As the most susceptible individuals are those who are unvaccinated or under-vaccinated, a scaled up response is involved in capacity building and providing guidance to ensure that vaccination programmes are successful in order to ensure 95% of individuals are vaccinated, a requirement of the European Vaccine Action Plan 2015-2020 (EVAP). Measles-containing vaccines should also be recommended for susceptible persons intending to travel to countries where measles is endemic and where outbreaks are on-going.

Source: WHO, 6 May 2019

Throughout June 2019, New York City will host WorldPride.

2019 will mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, the event that kick-started the gay liberation movement. NYC Pride 2019 will be branded as both WorldPride 2019 and Stonewall50.

It is estimated that three million people will be participating in the festivities, which will culminate with the Pride March on 30 June 2019.

Health care professionals are reminded of the importance of giving appropriate information regarding health risks and vaccination to travellers seeking advice prior to attending this event. Prevention of, and vaccination against, MMR, hepatitis A and hepatitis B should be discussed.

The following Travax pages give useful advice:

• Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender travellers 
• Sexual health risks 
• Accident prevention and personal safety 
• Travel insurance 
• Country page: United States of America

Further information and advice on travel to NYC Pride 2019 is also available to view on the fitfortravel website.

Sources: Travax, 29 April 2019 and fitfortravel, 29 April 2019

A £30 million project to improve services, and ensure high quality drinking water to more than 54,000 people in parts of Bearsden, Milngavie, Clydebank and Strathblane, will be carried out for Scottish Water by its partners Caledonia Water Alliance (CWA). It is expected this work will take around two years to complete. 

The project will change the source of the water supply from the ageing Burncrooks Water Treatment Works (WTW) in West Stirlingshire to the state-of-the-art Milngavie WTW in East Dunbartonshire.

The project will enable the provision of high-quality water to thousands of domestic properties and businesses and a large number of public buildings including more than 30 schools in three local authority areas, and the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank.

Source: Scottish Water, 9 May 2019

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) have called on the public to comment on their draft strategic plan over the period 9 May to July 18 2019. 

The plan’s aim is to help keep communities even safer through equipping firefighters to respond to new and emerging risks such as severe weather caused by population and climate change. 

Public feedback will be reviewed to inform the final strategic plan, which will be published in October 2019.

Source: SFRS, 9 May 2019

Scotland is the first country in the UK to announce its plans for a deposit return scheme for drinks containers, as part of plans to combat climate change, and to prevent discarded drinks containers from ending up on Scottish streets and in Scottish seas.

The deposit return scheme will include aluminium and steel cans as well as drinks containers made of glass and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic. Consumers will pay a 20p deposit when they buy a drink in a single-use container, which will be refunded when they return the empty bottle or can.

Source: REHIS, 8 May 2019