By SOPHIA STANFORD, NEWS REPORTER

Published: 00:01 BST, 26 June 2026 | Updated: 01:21 BST, 26 June 2026

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Jeremy Clarkson‘s prostate cancer diagnosis has prompted thousands of men to check their own risk of contracting the disease.

More than 50,000 used Prostate Cancer UK’s online tool in the week since the former Top Gear host went public with his own diagnosis.

This marked a 640 per cent increase on the average week – and was even higher than when former prime minister Lord Cameron revealed last year that he had been treated for the illness.

Clarkson, 66, announced he had been diagnosed with ‘aggressive’ prostate cancer, which had been discovered early, in the most recent episodes of his show Clarkson’s Farm. 

In a subsequent interview with The Sunday Times, he confirmed a PSA test two months ago revealed no indication of cancer and that he is in remission. 

He went on to urge men to get checked for risk of the disease.

The charity’s website prostatecanceruk.org also saw a spike in traffic following his revelation, with 170,813 users in the next week – 74 per cent up on the average.

Chiara De Biase, of Prostate Cancer UK, said: ‘There’s little doubt that Jeremy’s story has struck a chord and we thank him once again for sharing his story.

Jeremy Clarkson’s prostate cancer diagnosis has prompted thousands of men to check their own risk of contracting the disease

Clarkson, 66, announced he had been diagnosed with ‘aggressive’ prostate cancer, which had been discovered early, in the most recent episodes of his show Clarkson’s Farm

‘One in eight men will get prostate cancer. All too often men find out by complete chance – and too late. Thankfully Jeremy’s disease was diagnosed at an earlier stage.’

She added: ‘More than 10,000 dads, brothers, sons and friends are diagnosed too late for a cure every year. 

‘It’s why high–profile stories like this are incredibly impactful. But the fact the responsibility to know if you’re at higher risk of prostate cancer – and to act on it – still rests entirely on men’s shoulders simply has to change.’

The Daily Mail has joined forces with the charity to campaign for a national screening programme for the disease. 

Ms De Biase said: ‘We remain committed to finding the safest and most effective way to screen all men for prostate cancer.

‘But right now it remains the most common cancer without a screening programme. 

‘The figures over the past seven days have been incredible. Since Jeremy selflessly shared his story, more than 50,000 people have completed our award–winning online risk checker.

‘Our website has shown a massive increase in traffic too, so this all adds up to men taking crucial action which could save their lives.’

The man identified as France‘s first confirmed Ebola case fell ill mid-flight, despite boarding the plane without symptoms, sparking fresh concerns about cross-border transmission. 

On Wednesday, local officials confirmed the case in a humanitarian doctor who boarded a commercial flight from Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

The unnamed patient was transferred to a specialist facility and is in a stable condition, the ministry confirmed in a statement. 

In response, the DRC – the epicenter of the current outbreak – has imposed a 21-day quarantine for anyone who has visited Ebola-affected areas before they can travel abroad. 

The new restrictions will see anyone identified as a contact of a confirmed or suspected Ebola case undergo 21 days of active health monitoring from their last exposure. 

During this three-week period, all travel is prohibited unless authorised by health authorities under extenuating circumstances. 

The same rules apply to healthcare workers, laboratory staff and Ebola response teams returning from affected areas. 

While officials maintain that the risk to the general European public is low, all outbound passengers are now required to complete a health declaration form issued by border control.

A health worker in personal protective equipment (PPE) stands near displaced people in Bunia, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, June 18, 2026

Airlines will also be expected to verify the forms as an additional layer of protection. 

The outbreak, driven by the rare Bundibugyo strain, has already infected 1,118 people and claimed the lives of 291, according to official figures released on 24 June. 

Authorities are now working to contact the patient’s contacts, who will also have to isolate at home for 21 days. 

This is the first case to have been confirmed in Europe after an American doctor who tested positive in DRC last month was treated at a German hospital.  

The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the outbreak on 15 May following a string of cases that had gone undetected for weeks. 

Two days later, it declared a public health emergency of international concern. 

In previous Ebola outbreaks, the virus killed more than half of those infected – many of whom died due to internal bleeding and organ failure.

The current outbreak has seen the largest number of confirmed cases within the first month of any outbreak the WHO reports – with local resistance waning without a vaccine. 

 ‘More and more communities are aware of the risk of Ebola and are asking for tools to support and protect themselves,’ WHO official Abdirahman Mahamud said.

Currently, it is thought that just one in five health facilities in Ituri – the main centre of transmission – has access to the necessary amount of clean water, the first line of defence against transmission. 

Scientists suspect the virus spread from infected African fruit bats to humans, and is then passed between humans through direct contact with contaminated blood or bodily fluids of an infected person. 

Initial symptoms remain the same across all Ebola variants, including fever, exhaustion, muscle pain, headache, sore throat and vomiting before progressing to internal bleeding, organ failure and eventually death. 

However, patients can carry the virus for up to 21 days before symptoms begin, which is when experts believe they become infectious. 

The WHO has warned that conflict in eastern DR Congo is making it more difficult to tackle the Ebola outbreak.

Scientists at Oxford University are already working on a vaccine against the rare strain, with officials warning that ‘every day counts,’ as more people fall victim to the deadly disease. 

But vaccines won’t be ready for clinical trials for at least another month.  

Excess levels of a mineral responsible for healthy blood and brain function may raise the risk of Parkinson’s disease and dementia, a study suggests. 

Iron is an essential mineral that helps make hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body’s vital tissues. 

The body cannot produce iron on its own, and it instead comes from animal proteins such as lean red meat, clams and oysters, along with plant-based foods like spinach, lentils, tofu and white beans.  

Iron deficiency, which affects one in seven Americans, or 36 million people, has also been linked to developmental issues and cognitive decline, as the mineral also supports energy and neurotransmitter production.

But researchers at the Salk Institute in California have found that excess iron can slowly accumulate inside neurons. While this has little effect early in life, for older adults, it may cause nerve cells to die. 

They believe this is because excess iron lowers cells’ defenses, which makes them more vulnerable to stressors. 

Cell death in areas of the brain responsible for memories and cognitive function, such as the hippocampus and cerebral cortex, can lead to dementia, which affects about 7 million Americans. 

And striking 1 million Americans, Parkinson’s disease is caused by the loss of neurons responsible for producing dopamine, which coordinates movement, so the death of these cells could contribute to the disease.

A new study found an accumulation of iron may lead to cell changes associated with dementia and Parkinson’s disease

The researchers noted that evaluating iron levels could be a key tool in preventing neurodegenerative diseases like dementia and Parkinson’s. 

‘Resilience has become a huge topic of discussion when it comes to Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders, trying to make the brain more resilient in the face of stressors that contribute to neurodegeneration,’ Dr Pam Maher, senior and co-corresponding study author and research professor at the Salk Institute, said. 

‘Our study reveals that cells lose resilience when iron hits a certain level, making neurons more susceptible to stressors that damage or even kill them.’

The findings come as both dementia and Parkinson’s disease are on the rise in the US. 

Experts estimate dementia diagnoses are expected to double by 2050.  

The Parkinson’s Foundation estimates 1.2million Americans will be diagnosed with Parkinson’s by 2030, and 90,000 are struck by the disease every year. 

This is an increase from the previously estimated rate of 60,000 a decade ago, the foundation estimates. 

Recent research suggests environmental exposures like pollution and pesticides, along with growing rates of chronic conditions like obesity and diabetes, may be to blame, but scientists are still unraveling the causes.

Michael J Fox (pictured above at the 32nd Annual Actor Awards in March) was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991, revealing his diagnosis in 1998. In 2000, he founded the Michael J Fox Foundation to help fund Parkinson’s research

The new study, published in the journal Cell Death Discovery, used human neural cells from the nervous system cancer neuroblastoma to compare the effects of acute and chronic iron exposure. Acute exposure lasted between six and eight hours, while chronic was about nine days. 

Chronic exposure was meant to mimic slow accumulation that would be seen during aging. 

Using the cell models, the researchers coined the new pathway chronoferroptosis. Ferroptosis is a well-studied phenomenon in which cell death is caused by a process called lipid peroxidation. 

This occurs when harmful molecules called free radicals steal electrons from the lipids in cell membranes, resulting in cell damage.

In chronoferroptosis, however, that pathway doesn’t end in cell death. 

Instead, neurons chronically exposed to iron saw long-term functional changes rather than immediate death. Acutely exposed neurons could handle the stress, but those with chronic exposure became vulnerable to neurodegenerative diseases. 

‘We think these coordinated alterations in iron-handling and antioxidant defense proteins make chronically exposed neurons vulnerable to neurodegenerative pathology,’ Dr Nawab John Dar, co-corresponding study author and postdoctoral researcher in Maher’s lab, said. 

‘Entering this state of chronoferroptosis may set neurons up for age-related failure.’

Iron cannot be produced by the body on its own, but it is rich in animal proteins like lean meat, fish and beef liver

Dar noted that by using the progressive model, the team found it’s ‘not the amount of iron that seals the fate of these cells, it’s the amount of time they spend under stress.’ 

‘It’s one of the most important minerals in the body,’ he added. ‘So, it isn’t the iron itself that is a problem with age. It is this accumulation of iron over time that is the problem.’ 

The researchers were able to treat the iron toxicity with Ferrostatin-1, a synthetic antioxidant that inhibits chronoferroptosis and blocks cell stress and death. 

There were several limitations to the research, including not specifying an exact amount of iron that leads to chronoferroptosis and looking at cell models rather than humans.