Rise in whooping cough cases in the East
Pregnant women are to be vaccinated against whooping cough after the biggest outbreak of the illness for two decades claimed the lives of 10 babies.
So far this year 10 infants under the age of three months have died as a result of the infectious disease - including nine in England and one in Northern Ireland.
There have been 4,791 confirmed cases in England and Wales between January and August - four times more than the total figure for 2011, when there were 1,118 cases, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) said.
There's also been a big rise in cases of whooping cough in the Anglia region:
47 cases in the East of England in 2008
353 cases in the East of England in 2012
43 cases in the East Midlands in 2008
444 cases in the East Midlands in 2012
Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally Davies, the Government's principal medical adviser, said that mothers-to-be will be offered the vaccination to protect their newborn babies.
Youngsters cannot receive the jab until they are two months old. Vaccinating their mothers before they are born will boost their immunity until they reach the age they can get the injection themselves, Dame Sally said.
From Monday, women across the UK who are between 28 and 38 weeks pregnant will be offered the vaccination.
Increases in whooping cough are usually seen every three to four years. The last rise in the number of confirmed cases was recorded in 2008.
The largest number of cases have been in those over the age of 15 but there has also been a sharp rise in whooping cough in babies aged under three months.
Between January and August there were 302 cases reported in babies under three months, compared with just 115 cases in the whole of 2011.