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Earlier this week, along with thousands of others, I arrived at John F. Kennedy Airport to catch an 8am JetBlue flight.
I was headed to Charleston, South Carolina for my sister’s bachelorette.
It was an ordinary journey, much like any taken by millions of Americans every day. Except for one thing: I have a peanut allergy.
And, little did I realize at the time, a video I would later post about the flight would rack up more than 11 million views on Instagram – igniting a furious debate about allergies, air travel and passenger rights.
I’ve lived with my peanut allergy since I was 10 months old – my parents noticed, as a baby, I would break out in hives after eating, and eventually doctors identified peanuts as the cause.
Around six million people in the US have peanut allergies, and reactions can vary enormously from person to person.
As I’ve grown older – I’m now 26 – it’s become clear that mine is at the more severe end of the spectrum.
Exposure to even tiny traces can trigger anaphylaxis – a rapid, potentially fatal reaction in which the immune system overreacts, causing airways to swell, breathing to become difficult and blood pressure to crash.
For those living with life-threatening allergies, advocacy is not optional. It is part of survival.
Personally, I also start to vomit, although not everyone does.
In the worst cases, people can suffocate or go into cardiac arrest within minutes without urgent treatment.
Like a small proportion of people with severe allergies, I can also become extremely sick if peanut residue comes into contact with my skin. And that has happened to me before.
And so, when I travel – particularly on flights, where passengers are packed closely together in a confined space for hours and food is constantly being handled around you – I take precautions.
As awareness of severe food allergies has grown over recent decades – alongside a series of high-profile mid-air allergy scares and lawsuits – airlines have gradually introduced policies designed to reduce the risks for vulnerable passengers.
Before boarding any flight, I notify the airline – as is standard practice for people with severe allergies.
When you book a ticket with JetBlue, there is a section where passengers can disclose a peanut allergy in advance – which I always do.
Normally, passengers with severe allergies are allowed to pre-board – and that matters to me.
As soon as I got on a plane, I tell flight attendants exactly where I am sitting and where I keep my epinephrine auto-injectors in case of emergency.
I also usually ask staff to create what is known as a ‘buffer zone’ – meaning the rows immediately around me are asked by the flight attendants to avoid eating peanuts or nut products during the flight.
I wipe down every surface around me – tray table, television screen, seat pockets, arm rests and even the floor beneath the seat, where crumbs and food residue often collect.
So, when I arrived at the gate at JFK, I politely explained my allergy to the ground crew at the gate and asked whether I could board early.
The gate agent looked at my boarding pass and said pre-boarding was reserved for families and disabled passengers – and I would have to wait, as I was in Group 7.
I tried to explain my situation – but got nowhere, which seemed odd as previously I’d had good experiences with the airline.
But, not wanting to make a scene, I boarded with the other passengers and decided I would simply speak to the cabin crew directly instead.
By that point, I had also started filming.
Living with life-threatening allergies since childhood has shaped the way I travel, eat and move through the world every day.
I had seen other allergy sufferers share their travel experiences online and thought it might be useful to document mine too.
I never imagined the video would explode online the way it did.
As I entered the aircraft, I approached one of the flight attendants and explained that I was seated in Row 21C and had an anaphylactic peanut and tree nut allergy.
She nodded but did not say much else. I kept waiting for her to announce a buffer zone to nearby passengers, but nothing happened.
When I reached my seat further back on the plane, I spoke to another flight attendant, who was friendlier and more reassuring.
I again explained my allergy and asked whether a buffer zone could be created around my row.
He agreed and told me he would speak to nearby passengers.
But he also asked whether I carried EpiPens – a comment that unsettled me because, from my perspective, having emergency medication does not make the situation safe – and more on this later.
As passengers continued boarding, I sat waiting for the announcements to be made.
Then I smelled peanut butter.
People with severe allergies often become hyper-aware of the scent connected to their trigger foods, and I recognized it immediately. I turned around and saw a passenger behind me holding a large açai bowl that appeared to contain peanut butter.
At that point, panic started to set in.
The flight attendant had still not returned to brief the surrounding rows, and we were already taxiing on the runway.
Eventually, after take-off, crew members began asking nearby passengers not to eat nut products because someone on board had a severe allergy. By then, I said, the woman with the açai bowl had already been eating it for some time.
I turned around and explained that I was the passenger with the allergy, reassuring her that it was not her fault and asking only whether she could wash her hands afterwards.
She had no idea there was an issue.
For me, the incident ultimately raised a broader question about how airlines handle severe allergies in practice.
Thousands of hate comments were left on the post that showed fundamental confusion.
Hundreds commented in favor of our video and the advocacy it provided.
Flight crews receive allergy training. But if staff cannot immediately recognize something as obvious as peanut butter when a passenger has already warned them about a life-threatening allergy, how effective are those protections really?
I uploaded the 30 second clip to my Instagram account and, by the time we’d landed in Charleston, it had already had more than a million views.
What shocked me most were the torrent of comments – which, overwhelmingly, were filled with apparent vitriol toward me.
Primarily, people seemed to think people like me were trying to take away their right to eat what they want, when they want.
Some accused me of being dramatic or entitled.
Others said I should simply ‘stay home’ if my allergy was that serious. Thousands repeated the same response over and over again: ‘Just use your EpiPen.’
What unsettled me most was how quickly empathy seemed to disappear from the conversation.
Many people fundamentally misunderstood what anaphylaxis is and what epinephrine actually does.
An EpiPen is not a cure or a treatment that eases symptoms like a couple of Tylenol does a headache.
It is emergency intervention designed to temporarily slow a potentially fatal reaction while buying time to reach hospital treatment.
Even after using epinephrine, patients still need urgent hospital care because symptoms can continue – or return in waves.
How do I know this? Because I’ve lived it myself.
And tragically, there are cases showing that even prompt use of epinephrine does not always save lives.
In 2016, 15-year-old Natasha Ednan-Laperouse suffered a fatal allergic reaction onboard a flight after eating a sandwich she had purchased at Heathrow Airport.
According to reports, her father administered two EpiPens during the flight, but her reaction became fatal before she could receive emergency medical treatment on the ground.
In 2016, 15-year-old Natasha Ednan-Laperouse suffered a fatal allergic reaction onboard a flight after eating a sandwich she had purchased at Heathrow Airport
That is why comments telling people with severe allergies to ‘just carry an EpiPen’ are so upsetting to read.
Emergency medication is essential. I carry two epinephrine auto-injectors with me at all times in my Epi-Pal.
But carrying them does not remove the seriousness – or the fear – of living with anaphylaxis.
And some comments became darker than simple misunderstanding.
Strangers flooded my pages with mockery and abuse. Some called me ‘weak’ and ‘retarded.’
Others joked about intentionally exposing me to peanuts.
Reading those responses was deeply unsettling. Not only because they were cruel, but because they revealed how casually people can joke about – or dismiss – a potentially life-threatening medical condition they do not understand.
At times, it felt like the internet had stopped seeing me as a person and started seeing me as a problem.
But amid the backlash, there were positives too.
Hundreds of people reached out in support after watching the video, including parents of children with allergies, fellow sufferers and families who said they finally felt seen.
Many shared their own experiences of traveling with anaphylaxis, being dismissed by others or feeling frightened to speak up for their own safety.
That sense of visibility is part of why I created Epi-Pals™, a brand focused on making emergency medication feel less intimidating while encouraging allergy advocacy and preparedness.
Reading those messages reminded me why these conversations matter in the first place.
I never expected a short video filmed onboard a flight to spark this level of debate.
But if anything good came from it, I hope it encouraged more people to better understand what living with a life-threatening allergy actually looks like – and how exhausting it can be to constantly advocate for your own safety in public.
JetBlue has since publicly responded to the video in comments posted online, saying it always aims to create buffer zones for passengers with allergies and thanking me for sharing my experience.
But personally, I have not been contacted directly by the airline.
And honestly, that has disappointed me.
If the airline truly understood the emotional impact of what happened, I feel somebody would have reached out personally rather than responding only through public social media comments.
For me, this was never about trying to shame another passenger or ‘control’ a flight.
It was about documenting the reality of traveling with anaphylaxis – and asking people to take it seriously before an emergency happens, not after.
In a statement to Daily Mail, JetBlue said: ‘We’re sorry to hear this customer was dissatisfied with her experience. We take situations like this seriously and also rely on customers to notify us of any specific needs in advance so we can best support them during travel.
‘After seeing the post, we reached out to the account on social media to request her reservation information and learn more about her experience. So far, we have not received a response that would allow us to investigate further or better understand the details of the situation.’
The statement included allergy information the airline provides customers on its website and added: ‘Our customers that have allergies to nuts or animals can contact JetBlue to request a MEDA SSR be added to their booking. We ask that you also inform a crew member at the gate and onboard of your allergy and the accommodations needed.
‘Customers who have allergies should make arrangements to the best of their abilities to be prepared in case of an allergic reaction or emergency during their flight.
‘While JetBlue does not serve peanuts, we do have some offerings of products that contain tree nuts. There is also the possibility that some food items come from facilities that manufacture products that may contain nuts or peanut products. See the full list of our onboard snacks and beverages.
‘JetBlue does not provide a formal announcement on board the aircraft or in the gate area regarding the restrictive consumption of nuts, and we can’t prevent customers from bringing nuts onboard or consuming them aboard the aircraft.
‘We ask that you inform an inflight crewmember of your nut allergy when you board. Upon request, an inflight crewmember will create a buffer zone one row in front and one row behind the person who has the allergy.
‘The inflight crewmember will ask customers seated in the buffer zone to refrain from consuming any nut containing products they have brought on board. In addition, we will not serve any nut containing products to these rows.’
Personal finance experts have urged people to proceed with caution
Pensioners are being warned that a mistake with Winter Fuel Payments could end up costing them thousands of pounds. With HMRC’s Winter Fuel Payment clawback now active and around two million pensioners receiving updated tax codes through April and May, life insurance experts at Surely are warning older households not to turn a relatively small monthly tax deduction into a much bigger financial mistake.
According to Surely, over-50s life insurance is the policy most at risk of being cancelled in haste and regretted later. Under HMRC’s clawback rules, pensioners with a total income over £35,000 will have their Winter Fuel Payment recovered through the tax system. For many who pay tax through a workplace or private pension, this is happening now via tax code changes through the 2026/27 tax year, with a typical £200 payment recovered at around £17 per month.
While the monthly amount may look manageable, the concern is that older households facing a fresh letter from HMRC, a tax code change and a flurry of scam messages may make rushed decisions to find the £17 elsewhere. Of all the household costs pensioners might be tempted to cut, over-50s life insurance is among the worst, because the financial damage of cancelling can be tens of times larger than the saving.
Over-50s life insurance is structurally different from most other types of cover. It is typically guaranteed acceptance with no medical questions. Premiums are usually fixed for the life of the policy. The payout is designed to leave loved ones a lump sum, often used to cover funeral costs, clear debts or leave something behind for the family.
The catch is that once a policy is cancelled, every premium paid in is lost. There is no surrender value. A pensioner who has been paying £30 a month for ten years has put in £3,600 of premiums. Cancelling to save £17 a month writes that money off entirely.
Replacing the cover later is also rarely a like-for-like option. Premiums on a new over-50s policy taken out at age 75 will be significantly higher than those taken out at 60, because the price is anchored to age at the point of starting. For many older households, the cover they cancel today is cover they cannot realistically afford to put back in place.
Beyond life cover, the same logic applies to home, contents and travel insurance. Cancelling contents insurance might save a modest amount each month, but if there is a theft, fire or major damage, replacing belongings could easily run into four figures. Downgrading to a cheaper policy without checking the excess, claim limits, or exclusions can also create problems at the moment a claim is needed.
For older travellers, weakening travel cover is particularly risky. Reduced medical cover, excluded pre-existing conditions or weaker cancellation cover can leave a £17 monthly saving looking like a very expensive decision if a holiday goes wrong.
Paul Gillooly, Finance and Insurance Expert at Surely, said: “The danger here is not the £17 monthly deduction itself. It is the chain reaction it can trigger. When pensioners receive a confusing tax letter or hear that money is being clawed back, they can feel under pressure to immediately cut something elsewhere. That is when small money worries become much bigger problems.
“Over-50s life insurance is the policy I would warn people about most strongly. It is one of the worst types of cover to cancel under budget pressure. The premiums you have paid in are not refunded, and the cover is very hard to replace later, because premiums on a new policy will be set against your current age, which will be higher than when you first took it out. A pensioner who has paid £25 or £30 a month for the last decade has already put thousands of pounds into that policy. Cancelling to save £17 a month means losing every penny of that, plus the protection it was designed to provide.
“The same logic applies more broadly. Some monthly costs can be trimmed without much consequence, but insurance is different because it protects against events that are very difficult to pay for alone. If cancelling or weakening a policy means you would have to find £1,000 or more in an emergency, that is not a saving, that is taking on a new financial risk.
“My advice to anyone receiving a clawback letter is to pause before reacting. Check the clawback through official channels, ignore unexpected messages asking for bank details, and look calmly at where money can be saved without exposing yourself to larger losses. Insurance, and over-50s life cover in particular, should be reviewed carefully, not panic-cut.”
The health expert shares the latest guidelines on today’s episode of the show (Image: Getty )
NHS health expert Dr Ranj Singh has issued vital guidance to asthma sufferers who rely on a blue inhaler. The doctor appeared on today’s (May 18) edition of BBC’s Morning Live to urge those who depend on a blue inhaler for asthma relief to reassess their treatment.
Dr Ranj Singh is a qualified NHS consultant paediatrician specialising in emergency medicine. He completed his training in London and became a member of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in 2007. He is widely recognised for his appearances on programmes such as CBeebies’ Get Well Soon, ITV’s This Morning and BBC‘s Morning Live, reports the Mirror.
During the programme, hosts Helen Skelton and Gethin Jones informed viewers of an update set to affect millions of people living with asthma. Dr Ranj went on to stress the importance of checking the colour of your inhaler, particularly if it is a blue reliever inhaler, which he describes as “great for calming symptoms”, but warns that “overuse could mask deeper issues”.
He also explained why three is the “magic number” for determining whether you are using it too frequently and may need to consider switching. His urgent health warning comes as asthma sufferers across the UK are being encouraged to transition away from the traditional blue “reliever” inhalers (salbutamol) in favour of newer combination inhalers.
Health bodies including the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) warn that depending exclusively on a blue inhaler can conceal dangerous airway inflammation. Specialists also state they can increase the likelihood of experiencing severe asthma attacks.
Read more: Urgent recall of popular asthma medicine given by health bosses
Read more: UK asthma sufferers face new inhaler use rules as pollen bomb looms
Why should people with blue inhalers switch?
“Over a million people have been switched from using the standard blue inhaler to one of these newer combination ones,” Dr Ranj said. “It’s all based on some guidelines that actually came out in 2024 as an update to the asthma guidelines we use in the UK.
“Essentially, one of the key recommendations is moving from a blue reliever inhaler – it’s a salbutamol, which is the key ingredient inside that that’s a short-acting agent – and switching people over to a combination inhaler, which is a longer-acting one and actually has extra medicine in there to help as well.”
When Helen enquired about the distinction between the blue inhaler and the more recent combination inhaler, the health specialist explained: “For anyone with wheeze or asthma, the standard sort of starting treatment is a blue salbutamol inhaler. That’s a reliever. And what that does is it acts quickly to release the airways, relax them, so your breathing gets better.
If you rely on a blue inhaler for asthma relief, experts say it’s time to review your treatment. Dr Ranj explains why.
To watch this with subtitles go to BBC iPlayer and search for Morning Live from 18/05/2026 pic.twitter.com/slwfmlfn1f
— BBC Morning Live (@BBCMorningLive) May 18, 2026
“If you’ve got more severe asthma than that, then we would normally add in other medicines. Classic example being steroids. And they’re designed to actually work in the background to reduce inflammation to make it less likely for you to have an asthma attack.”
He went on to say: “Now, the blue inhaler just deals with the tightness. It doesn’t deal with any of the inflammation in the background, really. So, what we want to now do is sort of use newer combination inhalers that can relieve that tightness straight away and they act a bit longer.
“They’ve got a newer agent called formoterol in them, not salbutamol that acts quickly, and it acts for a longer period of time and also has got a bit of steroid in there as well to work on the background inflammation, which hopefully makes it less likely overall for you to have asthma.”
Over-reliance on blue inhalers is now linked to a higher risk of severe asthma attacks and hospital admissions (Image: Getty)
Nevertheless, Dr Ranj was keen to reassure those who rely on a blue reliever inhaler that there is no immediate cause for alarm. He explained that the primary concern surrounding blue inhalers is excessive use. “We now know that actually in the long term if you’re using your blue inhaler excessively it could increase your chances of having more attack, maybe even ended up in hospital or even worse,” he warned viewers.
“The worry is that it could potentially be masking severe asthma and you’re just kind of keeping it at bay by using your blue inhaler too much. If you’ve got mild or occasional symptoms, don’t panic. You’re either going to be contacted if you need a switch, or if you’ve just been diagnosed with asthma, you might go straight onto the new inhalers. Or if you’re having a review or coming up for a review, that would be the time to discuss it.”
Over a million asthma patients are successfully transitioning from traditional blue “reliever” inhalers to dual-action combination inhalers like Symbicort. (Image: Superdrug)
What is Dr Ranj’s urgent advice for anyone with asthma?
Dr Ranj outlined why three is the “magic number” when it comes to inhaler use. He said: “If you are using a blue inhaler and you’re using it more than four times in a 24-hour period or you’re using it and it’s not lasting for longer than four hours at a time, you’re probably going to need immediate help.
“You’re having an asthma attack, and therefore you’re probably going to need a bit more treatment than you’re actually doing. That’s what we would call sort of urgent sort of advice for anyone with asthma.”
Dr Ranj states the guidance applies to those newly diagnosed, aged over 12, or requiring escalated treatment. He notes there is also a switching option available for six to 12 year olds. “Essentially, there’s lots in this guidance, but in really simplistic terms, there are two broad arms of treatment to start,” he said.
How often should you be using a blue inhaler?
Dr Ranj advises that if you are currently using a blue inhaler, you should only use it as and when required. However, if you find yourself relying on it frequently, particularly if you are experiencing symptoms several times a week or more, it is important to consult your doctor.
“The other thing I would say is that anybody who is concerned about the overuse of their blue inhaler, if you’re having repeated prescriptions of it quite frequently, maybe two or three times a year, you definitely should be talking to a healthcare professional about it,” he said.
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What should you do if you have mild or severe symptoms?
For those who experience only occasional symptoms, or symptoms triggered by specific conditions such as pollen or cold air, Dr Ranj explains that you will likely be prescribed what is known as ‘air treatment’. He describes this as an anti-inflammatory reliever, which is “basically this long-acting airway relaxer and a little bit of steroid in there. You use that as and when you need it,” he said.
For those with more pronounced symptoms — such as frequent flare-ups or night-time disruptions — Dr Ranj says you will likely be moved onto a treatment known as MART, or maintenance and reliever therapy. He explains this is “essentially the same thing, but you’re using it a lot more regularly. You’re probably going to use it daily”.
He emphasised: “If you’re concerned about any of this, do speak to your GP or your asthma nurse. You don’t necessarily need to panic or anything like that. Make sure also everyone with asthma should be getting a review every single year anyway.”
The summer festival at London’s Hyde Park will see the eight-member K-pop group perform.
Travel experts warned that cases of a contagious illness are rising worldwide (Image: Getty)
Brits planning a holiday this summer have been warned they must be “up-to-date” with their vaccines. This comes amid an “increase” in measles cases worldwide, including in parts of Europe and Asia.
Measles is a highly contagious viral illness that causes cold-like symptoms, red eyes, and a distinct blotchy rash. In serious cases, it can lead to severe complications like meningitis and seizures, and can prove fatal.
In an update on the Travel Health Pro website, experts explained that the illness has surged in various countries. They said: “The summer holidays provide opportunity to explore different countries, head off for a city break, have a beach holiday or take the children to visit friends and family overseas.
“Good preparation and planning ahead helps ensure a safe and enjoyable trip. Travellers should be up to date with routine vaccination courses and boosters as recommended in the UK.
“These vaccinations include, for example measles-mumps-rubella (MMR). Measles is a risk in many countries, and there has been an increase in measles cases and outbreaks reported worldwide, including in parts of Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, including Canada and the United States.”
Symptoms of measles include a distinctive rash (Image: Getty)
Data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control found that there were a total of 3,607 measles cases reported by 30 EU/EEA member states in the year after April 1, 2025. Going into more detail, it said: “Of 3,029 individuals (84.0% of all cases) with a known age and vaccination status, 2 369 (78.2%) were unvaccinated, 320 (10.6%) were vaccinated with one dose of a measles-containing vaccine, 301 (9.9%) were vaccinated with two or more doses, and 32 (1.1%) were vaccinated with an unknown number of doses.
“During the 12-month period, five deaths (case fatality rate (CFR): 0.139 %) attributable to measles were reported to ECDC by France (three), Netherlands (one) and Romania (one).”
And a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), found that measles cases in Europe were at their highest in 2024 since 1997. A total of 127,350 measles cases were reported in the European Region in 2024, double the number of cases reported for 2023 and the highest number since 1997.
Children under five accounted for more than 40 per cent of reported cases in the region – comprising 53 countries in Europe and Central Asia. More than half of the reported cases required hospitalisation. A total of 38 deaths have been reported, based on preliminary data received as of 6 March 2025.
The spread has been attributed to declining rates of vaccination. Dr Hans P Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, commented to say: “Measles is back, and it’s a wake-up call. Without high vaccination rates, there is no health security. As we shape our new regional health strategy for Europe and Central Asia, we cannot afford to lose ground.
“Every country must step up efforts to reach under-vaccinated communities. The measles virus never rests—and neither can we.”
Measles cases are also rising in the UK. Figures from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) showed that in 2024, there were 2,911 laboratory-confirmed measles cases in England, the highest number of cases recorded annually since 2012. In 2025, there were a total of 959 laboratory-confirmed measles cases. Data for 2023 to 2025 and historical data are available.
Between 1 January 2026 and 11 May 2026, there have been 542 laboratory-confirmed measles cases reported in England, an increase of 65 cases since the last report on 27 April 2026.
Read more: Horror as Victorian-era disease rips through UK – nearly 500 new cases this year
Read more: Latest outbreak travel alerts as 19 countries hit with viruses and diseases
Symptoms
The virus transmits very quickly. Initial symptoms typically resemble those of a common cold, with a distinctive rash emerging several days afterwards.
The first symptoms of measles can include:
- A high temperature
- A runny or blocked nose
- Sneezing
- A cough
- Red, sore, watery eyes
The rash initially appears on the face and behind the ears, subsequently spreading across the entire body.
Occasionally, the spots associated with the measles rash become raised and merge, creating blotchy patches. These are typically not itchy.
The NHS cautions that measles can trigger severe complications should it migrate to other bodily areas, particularly the lungs or brain.
Potential consequences include pneumonia, meningitis, loss of vision, and convulsions. In the most serious instances, the disease can be life-threatening.
How to prevent the spread
Measles is spread when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes. You’re infectious from when you first have symptoms (around four days before the rash appears) until four days after you get the rash.
The NHS advises that to curb the transmission of the infection, individuals must remain absent from educational institutions or workplaces for a minimum of four days following the emergence of the rash.
According to its website, the guidance states: “Stay off nursery, school or work for at least four days from when the rash first appears. Also try to avoid close contact with babies and anyone who is pregnant or has a weakened immune system.”
However, the initial step if you or your child develops measles is to arrange an urgent consultation with your GP. The NHS advises: “Measles can spread to others easily. Call your GP surgery before you go in.
“They may suggest talking over the phone or arrange for you to come to a part of the surgery where you’re separated from others. You can also call 111 or get help from 111 online.”
After seeing a GP, there are things you can do to help ease the symptoms and reduce the risk of spreading the infection. It can help to:
- Rest and drink plenty of fluids, such as water, to avoid dehydration
- Give your child paracetamol for children or ibuprofen for children if they’re distressed or uncomfortable – check the packaging or leaflet to make sure the medicine is suitable for your child, or speak to a pharmacist or GP if you’re not sure
- Adults can take paracetamol or ibuprofen for a high temperature
- Use cotton wool soaked in water that has been boiled and allowed to cool to gently remove any crusts from your or your child’s eyes
- The NHS also recommends you:
- Open windows and doors to help reduce the risk of measles spreading – only open the top window or use safety catches if you have young children
- Wash your hands often with soap and warm water
- Use tissues when you cough or sneeze and throw them in the bin immediately after using them
- Do not share cutlery, cups, towels, clothes, or bedding
Vaccination
Having the MMRV or MMR vaccine is the “best way” to prevent measles. The NHS says: “Both vaccines also protect you from mumps and rubella, and the MMRV vaccine also protects you from chickenpox.
“The MMRV vaccine is offered to all young children in the UK. The MMR vaccine is recommended for adults and older children if they were not vaccinated when they were younger.”
Ask at your GP surgery if you’re not sure you or your child has had either of these vaccines. Your GP can vaccinate you for free on the NHS.
The Colombian singer says the court ruling means the “narrative” that she was guilty now “crumbles”.
Medicine rarely achieves instant returns. We reach for a drug, we watch and wait, we manage rather than cure.
So, when something can be fixed quickly and simply, it is genuinely one of the most satisfying moments in the job.
Take Jo, a patient I saw recently who came to me in a state of real anxiety after she seemingly overnight developed tinnitus.
She knew people whose lives had been turned upside down by the condition – the relentless ringing, buzzing or hissing that only you can hear, with no external source and no off switch. She was frightened it was going to happen to her too.
Tinnitus is far more common than most people realise, affecting around one in ten of us. It can be profoundly debilitating – disrupting sleep, eroding concentration, and driving anxiety and depression.
The sounds vary: ringing, buzzing, whooshing, clicking, whistling, a constant tone. For some people it comes and goes; for others it never stops. Jo’s was a ringing in both ears.
She had also noticed her hearing wasn’t as sharp as it used to be – her husband complained she was shouting and had the television up too loud, while she was convinced, he was mumbling.
When I looked in her ears, I found the answer almost immediately: Both ear canals were packed with dark, hard, dry wax.
Ear wax lubricates and protects the ear, but when it builds up and hardens, it causes hearing loss and irritates the eardrum. That irritation, in turn, can produce tinnitus
Wax has a purpose: it lubricates and protects the ear.
But when it builds up and hardens, it blocks the ear canal, causes hearing loss and irritates the eardrum. That irritation, in turn, can produce tinnitus.
I prescribed a week of daily olive oil ear drops to soften the wax. Following this routine, the wax should slowly dislodge, opening the eardrum and reducing the tinnitus.
I explained to Jo, as I do to all my patients, that cotton ear buds are never the solution to ear wax build–ups.
This is because the sticks can push the wax further in, further worsening hearing or tinnitus problems.
Jo also decided to pay to have her ears microsuctioned – where the wax is removed by a healthcare professional using a small suction device.
However, for most patients, olive oil drops should do the job.
Once the wax was removed, Jo’s recovery was miraculous. Her hearing returned to normal and the ringing stopped. Now she thinks it is her husband who is shouting.
It is such a simple fix, and yet I am constantly surprised by how many tinnitus sufferers have never been told to check their ears for wax.
Moreover, in this situation, while I prescribed the olive oil drops, these products are available over the counter in most pharmacies.
Unfortunately, microsuction is generally no longer offered at most GP surgeries – due to NHS cost–cutting – meaning patients will typically have to pay around £60 for it. But, for many, it can be transformative.
Of course, ear wax is not the cause of every case of tinnitus. Another is a little-known condition called temporomandibular joint syndrome – or TMJ.
The temporomandibular joint is the hinge that connects your jawbone to your skull, and when it is not working properly, this can trigger tinnitus.
The TMJ sits in very close proximity to the ear, and the two share nerve pathways. Dysfunction in this joint, whether caused by teeth grinding, jaw clenching, arthritis or poor bite alignment, can produce tinnitus alongside the more obvious symptoms of jaw pain, clicking, painful chewing, headaches and earache.
This is why I always routinely ask tinnitus patients whether they have any of these symptoms now.
And the good news is that treating TMJ dysfunction can bring real relief for tinnitus. This usually starts with jaw exercises and a custom-fitted mouth guard worn at night to reduce grinding and clenching, combined with anti-inflammatory medication.
Presenter Zoe Ball, 55, revealed in 2024 that she suffers from temporomandibular joint syndrome – or TMJ – which can be a cause of tinnitus
Where those measures are not enough, Botox injections into the jaw muscles can reduce clenching very effectively, and steroid injections directly into the joint are another option.
As the joint settles, tinnitus often improves alongside it.
Certain medications can also cause tinnitus as a side effect, including anti-inflammatories, aspirin and some antibiotics.
In some cases, this is reversible when the medication is stopped or changed, but patients should never alter or stop any prescribed medicine without speaking to their doctor first.
For some patients, tinnitus can be linked to later-life hearing loss.
Hearing degrades over time and, in some cases, this can lead to tinnitus. The same issue can occur in patients who have had their hearing damaged by long term exposure to loud noises.
For these patients, hearing aids can often help reduce tinnitus symptoms. In fact, more than half of people report meaningful improvement in their tinnitus when wearing hearing aids, though it typically returns when the aids come out.
Some devices now include built-in white noise generators for additional tinnitus relief.
White noise is a constant sound that doesn’t change in pitch or volume – typically, something that sounds a bit like static coming from the un-tuned radio, or a fan.
For tinnitus relief, it works as sound therapy to provide a steady, neutral background noise, which helps reduce the contrast between the internal ‘ringing’ and the quiet environment.
GP, author and broadcaster Dr Philippa Kaye
However, the truth is that, for many patients, the underlying cause of the tinnitus will never be identified. For many, it can occur out of nowhere. But that does not mean, for these patients, it can’t be resolved.
Cognitive behavioural therapy – a form of talking therapy – has strong evidence behind it for tinnitus: it does not silence the sound, but it changes your relationship with it, helping you identify unhelpful thought patterns, improve sleep and reduce the spike of anxiety that the ringing can trigger.
Sound therapy includes standalone white noise machines, tinnitus apps, or simply a radio tuned to static at night – all make it easier for the brain to ‘tune out’ the tinnitus.
Fascinatingly, there is also a new treatment that could revolutionise treatment. It’s called the Lenire device and it uses a combination of sound therapy and mild electrical stimulation of the tongue.
The science behind it is complex, but a recent study of over 200 patients reported more than a 90 per cent improvement rate at 12 weeks. It’s currently only available privately, often at prohibitive costs of around £4,000. However, it is possible that it may be adopted on the NHS in the future.
Tinnitus is more than just a sound in your ear, it can really have an impact on your life. But, at the same time, it is invisible to doctors who are often too quick to dismiss it as a minor issue.
That’s why it’s so important that patients ask to be checked for the most common causes, including ear wax build-up, TMJ syndrome and hearing loss.
Finding the cause could be the way to find a life-changing solution.
Here we are then. Thirty years on from Fuzzy Logic and the halcyon days of the late 90s. The Cold War was over! The economy was on the up! We were all middle class now! Time, and, inevitably, the course of events, has shown that the optimism of those days was a brief summer, a sunny interval, rather than just the way things were going to be from now on.
The sunshine pop of Super Furry Animals’ back catalogue still has the potential to cheer, though, and there are a lot of middle-aged men and women here who are grateful for the opportunity to spend of couple of hours revisiting those youthful days, before the mortgage payments meant having to take any notice of interest rate announcements from the Bank Of England. At the end of this there will still be the Monday morning meeting to attend, the monthly sales spreadsheet will still need updating, but for now they can dance to Northern Lites and remember what it felt like when this music was new and everything felt so very fresh.
And SFA know exactly what their audience want, throwing out one crowdpleaser after another over the course of a set focused entirely on the hits. It’s almost wall-to-wall singles tonight, with only the occasional beloved album track thrown in the mix. All of the songs are drawn from the first decade of their career, with nothing from their three most recent albums; this probably tallies with audience expectations, but prompts some melancholy reflection on the later part of the band’s career.
It’s a testament to just how rich the first half of their career was, however, that many songs unplayed tonight wouldn’t be out of place in this hits-larded set. The absence of Hometown Unicorn feels particularly noteworthy. The songs which are played are executed flawlessly, with regular outbreaks of crowd singalongs, and this is the chief component in the love that the band are being shown tonight.
The greatest part of SFA’s appeal as a live act has always been their proficiency at recreating the cloudless sounds of those early records. They do the vocal harmonies, they play the instrumental breaks as they are on the record, and you can rest easy in the knowledge that they’re never going to treat the audience to a 12-minute jazz-funk reinterpretation of one of their pop-shaped perfect classics.
For a band known for employing creative visual content, frequent costume changes and a multitude of stage props, tonight’s performance is somewhat muted. The band are dressed in civvies, the video screen behind the band mostly shows coloured abstractions, and there are no tanks onstage – although one of the giant inflatables from the Radiator era flanks the stage to the right.
The performance culminates as it was always going to, with a blazing version of The Man Don’t Give A Fuck. The fans roar at one last chance to sing along, and when the group leave the stage at the end of the song the audience unites in chants of “More!” After several minutes soundtracked by a looped techno breakdown, the band reappear on stage, in their yeti costumes, to finish the song and soak up the adulation of the audience.
And that’s it. There will be no encore, Cardiff. As they traipse out into cool drizzle, the middle-aged men and women, reality begins to reassert itself. But for a too-brief couple of hours it was glorious summer.
Super Furry Animals, Utilita Arena Cardiff, Sat 16 May
words DAVID GRIFFITHS photos TIM ALBAN
The deadly Ebola virus rampaging through central Africa is a rare strain that has no approved vaccine or targeted treatment, experts have warned.
Last night, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern after cases spread from the Democratic Republic of Congo into neighbouring Uganda.
Health officials fear the true scale of the outbreak could be far larger than currently known, with around 246 suspected cases and 80 reported deaths already linked to the virus.
Dr Daniela Manno, Clinical Assistant Professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, described the outbreak as ‘concerning’ and warned the virus may have been spreading undetected for weeks before it was formally identified.
She said: ‘The number of suspected cases reported before confirmation suggests transmission may have been ongoing for several weeks before the outbreak was formally recognised.’
Scientists say the current outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola – a form of the disease seen in only two previous outbreaks.
Prof Emma Thompson, director of the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, warned: ‘We do not currently have a proven, licensed, Bundibugyo-virus-specific vaccine available for outbreak control and further urgent research is required.
‘The same applies to therapeutics. Approved monoclonal antibody treatments such as Inmazeb and Ebanga were developed for disease caused by Ebola virus, not Bundibugyo virus, and their efficacy against other ebolaviruses has not been established.’
The WHO declared the outbreak a global health emergency after cases spread from the Democratic Republic of Congo into neighbouring Uganda. Pictured: A health worker at an Ebola transit centre in Beni in North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, in May 2019
A hospital staff member checks a visitor’s temperature using a contactless infrared thermometer, before allowing her access to the hospital in Goma on May 17, 2026
Experts say the outbreak is particularly difficult to contain because it is unfolding in a region affected by armed conflict, mass displacement and heavy cross-border movement.
Ebola spreads through direct contact with infected bodily fluids, including blood and vomit, making it far less transmissible than airborne viruses such as Covid–19.
Experts maintain the risk to the UK is very low.
In the 2013-16 West African outbreak, there were only a handful of cases in Europe despite almost 30,000 cases in West Africa.
But scientists warn the virus can still be devastating.
Dr Natsuko Imai, Research Lead in Epidemics and Epidemiology at Wellcome, said ‘this evolving situation is concerning’.
Dr Anne Cori, associate professor in infectious disease modelling at Imperial College London, said previous Bundibugyo outbreaks suggested around one in three infected patients died.
Symptoms typically begin suddenly with fever, headache, muscle pain and fatigue before progressing to vomiting, diarrhoea, organ failure and, in some cases, internal and external bleeding.
The WHO stressed the outbreak does not currently meet the criteria for a pandemic, but said the international emergency declaration would help mobilise funding, surveillance and cross–border coordination.
The agency urged neighbouring countries to strengthen screening and monitoring measures but advised against border closures or travel bans.
Rwanda has already announced tighter border screening measures as a precaution.
Scientists say rapid contact tracing, isolation of cases, safe burials and community engagement will now be critical to preventing the outbreak from spreading further.
Ebola was first discovered in 1976 in what is now DR Congo. This marks the country’s 17th recorded outbreak of the deadly virus.
DR Congo’s deadliest outbreak, between 2018 and 2020, killed nearly 2,300 people.