Microregistrar Infection Newsletter · Thursday 15 October 2026
UKHSA consults on updated UKAP guidance for healthcare workers living with HIV.
UKHSA has opened a consultation (14 Oct) on a proposed update to UKAP guidance for healthcare workers living with HIV who perform exposure-prone procedures. It asks for feedback on the draft wording, any gaps and the equality impact, and it closes on 8 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT. UKHSA also added Uganda high-risk areas to the Ebola and Marburg returning workers scheme. Elsewhere, Kenya has confirmed a second Bundibugyo Ebola case, and ECDC now shows the DRC at 9,144 / 4,410.
Counted from today’s digest. New journal items are the two new J Hosp Infect papers on the Journals tab. The new EID early releases are on the Agencies tab under CDC and aren’t counted, and neither are the Eurosurveillance and Lancet Infect Dis items we’d already covered. Links are unique content links across the issue, not counting our two website links. Gaps come from the Coverage gaps list. Today’s digest has no sources checklist, so there’s no checks card.
Also today
The other headlines from today’s issue. Each one links through to the full summary. The UK flu/COVID-19 week 42 report and England’s monthly measles update weren’t out when we compiled this issue. Flu/COVID is due at 14:00 BST today, and measles is also due today.
New on Microregistrar Moodle
REMAP-CAP trial review (14 Oct 2026).
Kenya confirms a second case
A 39-year-old close relative of the first imported case fell ill while already in quarantine and tested positive (14 Oct). The health ministry says both cases are linked, with no evidence of wider community spread.
Reported by BBC and AP; ECDC’s page still lists only the first case.
DRC: 9,144 confirmed, 4,410 deaths
ECDC, using Ministry of Health data to 12 Oct: CFR 48.2%, +78 cases and +29 deaths since SitRep 150. Contact follow-up 77.6%.
Unresolved: deaths on 12 Oct are 29 in the MoH SitRep but 11 on ECDC’s page.
New filovirus contact-tracing guidance
WHO operational guidance on surveillance, case investigation and contact tracing for Ebola (including Bundibugyo) and Marburg. It updates the 2015 guideline.
Metastatic C. auris after candidaemia
22.2% of 108 patients in Spain developed metastatic infection; cardiac devices or prosthetic valves were independently linked to it. This supports echocardiography in patients with intracardiac devices.
4,080 US cases, re-verified
As of 8 Oct: 42 outbreaks, 96% outbreak-associated, 2 deaths.
What we could not confirm
Week 42 flu/COVID-19 and England’s measles update weren’t published by compile time. MoH and ECDC give different death counts for 12 Oct in the DRC (29 vs 11). ECDC hasn’t yet added Kenya’s second case; that news comes from Kenya’s health ministry via BBC and AP. Several journal abstracts weren’t available.
Microregistrar Moodle update
New on Microregistrar Moodle since our last issue: one item.
REMAP-CAP trial review
A trial review. There’s no further description on the sheet.
The full list is in the Microregistrar moodlecloud sheet ›
Watched pages
We check nine pages every morning for anything new, compared with what we saw last time (checked 15 Oct 2026 ~08:05 BST; all 9 were reachable). Two have something new: the UKHSA organisation page and J Hosp Infect. The other seven were quiet, including RCPath exams.
Health Protection Report (UKHSA)
No changeNo new reports (still volume 20 issue 9, 24 Sep). A small COVER correction wasn’t meaningful.
UK SMI News (RCPath)
No changeNo new items.
RCPath Examinations
No changeNo new exam news.
Green Book
No changeNo new or updated chapters.
UKHSA organisation page (GOV.UK)
NEW- 14 Oct — UKAP guidance update for healthcare workers living with HIV (open consultation to 8 Nov). See Guidance changes. Consultation ›
- 14 Oct — Ebola and Marburg returning workers scheme: high-risk areas added to the Uganda section. Guidance ›
Other edits were procedural clarifications and statistics corrections.
NICE published guidance
No changeNo new infection or antimicrobial items.
Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy
No changeNo new items.
Journal of Infection
No changeNothing new beyond the 13 Oct papers we covered yesterday.
Journal of Hospital Infection
NEWAgencies & guidance
The UKAP consultation is the main UK item today, with an update to the returning workers scheme for occupational health teams. Kenya has a second, linked Ebola case.
Guidance changes
UKAP guidance update for healthcare workers living with HIV (14 Oct)
A proposed update to guidance for healthcare workers living with HIV who perform exposure-prone procedures. UKHSA asks for feedback on the draft wording, any gaps and the equality impact. Closes 8 Nov 2026, 23:59 GMT.
Uganda high-risk areas added (14 Oct)
The scheme now lists Uganda high-risk districts for humanitarian, healthcare and Ebola-response returners (Adjumani, Arua, Bundibugyo, Hoima, Kasese and others). The DRC scheme still covers all workers from affected areas, plus all health and humanitarian workers from anywhere in the DRC. Relevant to occupational health.
Filovirus surveillance and contact tracing (9 Oct)
Surveillance, case investigation and contact tracing in filovirus disease outbreaks covers Ebola (including Bundibugyo) and Marburg. It revises case and contact definitions and updates the 2015 EVD contact-tracing guideline.
MHRA alert and other guidance
MHRA DSI/2026/014 (echinocandins during CRRT) hasn’t been amended since 13 Oct: where possible, give echinocandins ≥6 h after CRRT starts or after a filter change, and don’t delay CRRT just to give the dose. No new UK SMI, Green Book, NICE infection/AMR or EUCAST changes; EUCAST breakpoints stay at v16.1 until 31 Dec 2026.
UKHSA / England
Week 42 out at 14:00 BST today
The official announcement confirms release on 15 Oct 2026 at 14:00 BST (data to week 41, ending 11 Oct). Week 41 (8 Oct) is still the latest: hospital flu PCR positivity 6.5%, COVID-19 9.1%, RSV at baseline.
England: still 1,003 cases
The dashboard was last updated on 17 Sep: 1,003 lab-confirmed cases (1 Jan–14 Sep 2026), and 18 in the past 4 weeks (London 50%, West Midlands 16%, North West 11%). The next update is due on 15 Oct.
Everything else
Outbreaks under monitoring is still at week 40. No new HPR or Vaccine Update (HPR volume 20 issue 9; Vaccine Update 376).
ECDC
Ebola page updated
9,144 confirmed / 4,410 deaths (data to 12 Oct); 899 in isolation; 2,418 recovered; contact follow-up 77.6%. For 12 Oct, ECDC lists 79 new cases and 11 deaths. The Kenya section still describes only the first imported case (who died; 108 of 122 contacts in quarantine as of 11 Oct). ECDC rates the import risk to the EU/EEA as very low. The CDTR is still week 41 (9 Oct); week 42 isn’t out yet.
Global — Ebola (Bundibugyo)
Kenya confirms a second, linked case (14 Oct)
The new case is a 39-year-old close relative of the index case. He developed fever, fatigue and joint pains while already in quarantine, tested positive and was moved to a designated treatment centre. The index case (died 5 Oct) had travelled from the DRC through Uganda to Kenya without being detected. 128 contacts were listed: 113 found, 108 in quarantine, 15 still being traced. The ministry reports no community spread, and Kenya has no travel or trade restrictions.
Kenya’s health ministry, as reported by BBC and AP. ECDC hasn’t added it yet, and WHO hasn’t published a DON on it.
DRC: 9,144 confirmed, 4,410 deaths (data to 12 Oct)
CFR 48.2%; 2,418 recovered; 899 in isolation. That’s +78 cases and +29 deaths since SitRep 150 (9,066 / 4,381 to 11 Oct). On 12 Oct there were 79 new confirmed cases (Ituri 40, Nord-Kivu 27, Haut-Uélé 8, Tshopo 4, per MoH).
65 of 167 health zones across 7 provinces. Uganda is unchanged (outbreak over 25 Aug, 20 cases). CEPI’s Tumaini trial is still described as in final preparation, with no start announcement verified.
Unresolved: the MoH SitRep gives 29 deaths on 12 Oct and ECDC gives 11. The Ituri death figure is ECDC’s.
WHO
DON620 is still the latest
DON620 (Irkutsk pneumonia of undetermined cause, 10 Oct) is still the latest DON, and there’s no Ebola DON after DON619. WHO says there’s no evidence of ongoing transmission and advises no travel or trade restrictions.
Not confirmed: the cause is still undetermined.
CDC / US
New EID articles (14 Oct)
- Metastatic Candidozyma auris after candidaemia, Spain, 2016–2024: 24 of 108 patients (22.2%) developed metastatic infection, most often endocarditis (7.4%). Cardiac devices or prosthetic valves were independently associated (sHR 2.89), and metastatic infection was linked to higher 60- and 90-day mortality. Consider echocardiography in patients with devices. EID ›
- Macrolide-resistant Mycoplasma pneumoniae ST3 subclades in Taiwanese children: incidence rose after COVID, with ICU and CNS complications in 2024. Relevant to empirical macrolides for atypical pneumonia in travellers from East Asia. EID ›
- Five-biomarker definition of hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae bloodstream infection, Japan: 14% met hvKp criteria, and abscesses were far more common (61% vs 13%). EID ›
- Also: invasive enterovirus and parechovirus in adults in Alberta, and the microbiology of spinal-fusion SSIs (31.5% Gram-negative).
No new advisory
The latest infection HAN is still rabies post-exposure prophylaxis (CDCHAN-00533, 10 Sep). No new infection MMWR weekly or press release. Still of note in MMWR Early Release: Cladophialophora bantiana molecular detections in the US, 2009–2026 (48 confirmed plus 1 probable; detections rose to 14 in 2025). Consider it in brain abscess; treatment is combination antifungals and surgery.
4,080 US cases (as of 8 Oct)
Page updated 9 Oct: 42 outbreaks, 96% outbreak-associated, 2 deaths.
Travel notices
Level 4 (avoid all travel) for Ituri and Nord-Kivu; avoid non-essential travel to Haut-Uélé and Tshopo; enhanced precautions for the rest of the DRC.
Journals
A quiet day: two new papers on our watched J Hosp Infect page, plus two earlier items worth keeping in view. The new EID articles are on the Agencies tab under CDC.
Journal of Hospital Infection — new
Clade-dependent disinfectant susceptibility in Candidozyma auris
Takeaway: disinfectant choice for C. auris environmental cleaning may need to take the clade into account.
Title-level only.
Comprehensive oral care and lower ventilator-associated pneumonia
Single-centre prospective cohort; title-level only.
Still worth a look
Ralstonia mannitolilytica outbreak linked to prefilled saline flush syringes, Germany
Takeaway: contaminated flush products can drive bloodstream infections across several hospitals, so think about recalling or quarantining the product. Issue 41 isn’t out yet.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2026.31.40.2600819
Ervebo T cells cross-react with Bundibugyo
Takeaway: 13 of 20 recipients had Bundibugyo-reactive T cells by day 28 after one dose. That supports using it in trials, but protection isn’t proven.
On X
Two searches of agency accounts and UK/EU outbreak keywords (from 14 Oct).
@WHO, 14 Oct: posted about the new filovirus outbreak guidance (early detection, case finding, interrupting transmission), matching the WHO publication. Post ›
@UKHSA, 14 Oct: RSV vaccine in pregnancy campaign (cuts severe RSV in babies by about 80%). Routine messaging.
Unverified accounts claimed a second Kenyan case and recycled DRC totals. The Kenya case has since been confirmed by Kenya’s health ministry, as reported by BBC and AP. No other breaking UK/EU signals.
What we could not confirm
We want you to know exactly where today’s issue has limits, so here are the 5 gaps we couldn’t close and what went wrong.
| Source | Issue |
|---|---|
| UKHSA | England measles monthly update and flu/COVID-19 week 42 are due later today and weren’t available at ~08:15 BST. Outbreaks under monitoring for week 41 onwards isn’t published. |
| ECDC | Eurosurveillance issue 41 and the CDTR for week 42 aren’t published yet. ECDC’s Kenya section hasn’t added the second case. |
| Ebola deaths | Deaths on 12 Oct: the MoH SitRep says 29 and ECDC says 11. Unresolved. |
| CDC | The HAN archive refused our access, and the MMWR feed for the weekly report was unreliable. |
| Journals | Elsevier pages (Lancet Online First, some J Infect and CMI pages) often blocked us or timed out, so several abstracts are incomplete. |
Sources
Today’s digest doesn’t include a sources checklist, so we can’t show ticked and open checks this time. These are the sources it draws on, as described in the issue.
- Watched pages (9 pages, all reachable, checked 15 Oct ~08:05 BST)
- Microregistrar Moodle sheet (1 new item)
- UKHSA GOV.UK: UKAP consultation, returning workers scheme, flu/COVID release announcement, measles dashboard, Outbreaks under monitoring
- MHRA drug and device alerts
- ECDC: Ebola outbreak page and CDTR
- WHO publications and Disease Outbreak News; DRC Ministry of Health SitRep 151; BBC and AP on Kenya
- CDC: EID early release, MMWR, HAN, measles data, travel notices
- Journal sweep plus watched journal feeds
- X: two searches of agency accounts and outbreak keywords