Is it illegal to travel when you are sick? Here's what the law says about bringing illness into the UK

The ‘rare’ disease has been found in a person who had a recent history of travelling to Nigeria.

They are now receiving care at the expert infectious disease unit at the Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, London.

The first case of monkeypox was confirmed in the UK in 2018, also in a patient who had recently travelled to Nigeria.

Symptoms of the illness include a high temperature, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen glands, shivering (chills) and exhaustion.

But what does the law say about bringing illness into the UK?

Here’s all you need to know:

Is it illegal to bring a disease into the UK?

While there is no specific law about travelling while unwell, there are a number of diseases you need to notify the authorities if you have them.

Under the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 and the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010 these include:

Acute encephalitis

Acute infectious hepatitis

Acute poliomyelitis

Anthrax

Botulism

Brucellosis

Cholera

COVID-19

Diphtheria

Enteric fever

Food poisoning

Hemolytic uremic syndrome

Infectious bloody diarrhoea

Invasive group A streptococcal disease

Legionnaire's disease

Leprosy

Malaria

Measles

Meningococcal sepsis

Mumps

Plague

Rabies

Rubella

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

Scarlet fever

Smallpox

Tetanus

Tuberculosis

Typhus

Viral haemorrhagic fever (VHF)

Whooping cough

Yellow fever