newsround

New numbers at DH

The Department of Health Publications Orderline has new numbers:

Telephone: 0300 123 1002
Textphone: 0300 123 1003.

On the state of public health

Sir Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer, has published his annual report.

National Risk Register

The Government has published a National Risk Register which sets out their assessment of the likelihood and potential impact of a range of different risks that may directly affect the UK. The register is designed to increase awareness of the kinds of risks the UK faces, and encourage individuals and organisations to think about their own preparedness. It also includes details of what the Government and emergency services are doing to prepare for emergencies such as natural events, major accidents and malicious attacks. Considerations are given for organisations, individuals, families and communities. The authors say that a pandemic flu outbreak is a greater threat to the UK than terrorism.

Pandemic flu: UK international preparedness strategy

Speaking of which, this Department of Health strategy is the first of its kind, demonstrating a cross-government approach to improving international preparedness over the coming three-to-five years. It presents the UK Government’s aims, objectives and actions for playing its part to improve global pandemic preparedness.

Immunisation survey results

A summary of the Health Professionals Childhood Immunisation Survey 2008.

British behaviour abroad annual report

View the report here.

The General Practice Nursing Project

Part of the Working in Partnership Programme, the GPN project focused on good employment practice, education, competence and career development with a range of professional tools designed, developed, tested and made available to practice nurses. The GP nurses, HCAs, GPN comprehensive web-based toolkit, Careers framework is at: www.rcn.org.uk . The WiPP closed in June, but the website is active until March 2009.

Booster missing?

A report from the HPA, The impact of infant pneumococcal vaccination, has shown that in England vaccine coverage is 89.1 per cent against 96.4 per cent in Scotland and 94.9 percent in Wales. In England one child in five lacks protection from pneumococcal disease through missing their booster and one in 10 has missed primary vaccination. However, in the Director of Immunisation’s annual report it is estimated that over 470 children have avoided serious illness and up to 28 deaths from invasive pneumococcal disease have been prevented.

Anyone for travellers diarrhoea skin patch?

Clinical trials have shown that a vaccine administered through a patch can cut the risk of moderate-to-severe diarrhoea symptoms by 75 percent. Volunteers wearing the patch with vaccine or placebo kept a diary during holidays in Mexico and Guatemala. View website for more details.

Death from leptospirosis

A woman who loved caring for garden animals ignored pleas to wear gloves while struggling to free a rodent from a bird feeder. She was scratched and four days later developed flu-like symptoms. Within 48 hours she was dead. An inquest heard she had contracted Weil’s disease, a severe form of leptospirosis, caused by bacteria found in the urine of wild animals. About 50 confirmed cases of Weil’s disease are reported to the HPA each year, but in 2006 only two people died from the condition. Weil’s disease affects around 10 per cent of leptospirosis victims, causing jaundice and liver damage, and can be fatal. Recording a narrative verdict, the deputy coroner said: “The public should be made aware of the dangers of leaving food out, deliberately or unintentionally, that might attract animals like rats. If you must come into contact with rats please wear gloves.”

“Transplant tourism”

Two personal views are worth reading in the BMJ 336: pp.1377–1378:

Professor Turner from McGill University in Montreal makes a plea for abolition of the term “transplant tourism” and says that “transplant” and “tourism” are words that do not belong together, but enable “serious ethical, clinical, social and economic problems” to be ignored.
A London consultant transplant surgeon says that commercial transplantation in Pakistan has become a lucrative business: “Selling kidneys is the second option among poor people to get the money – the first being selling their children.” Overseas recipients are operated on quickly and returned home without advice or postoperative treatment. Serious complications are then picked up and dealt with in the home country.

Each highlights the situations as requiring urgent attention by the international communities.

Risks of cosmetic “safari surgery”

The President-elect of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) warned that patients who travel abroad for plastic surgery are putting their lives at risk. The growing trend for combining holidays with cheap operations is leaving patients with surgery which often needs to be corrected on return home, he said. The market for surgery abroad is worth an estimated £60 million a year and surveys show that up to 70 per cent of Britons would consider travelling abroad for surgery. Increasing numbers of UK citizens are heading to destinations in Eastern Europe and the Far East, where operations can cost a fraction of what they do at home. The Association has launched a campaign aimed at putting a stop to irresponsible sales techniques. Many clinics have signed up to a voluntary code of conduct drawn up by the Independent Healthcare Authority, who say that cosmetic companies have a requirement not to create unrealistic expectations in their patients.

Should travel health nurses travel?

“Are international medical conferences an outdated luxury the planet can’t afford?”

See a “head-to-head” debate in BMJ 336, pp.1466–67. The poll on this question was conducted on bmj.com and showed: Yes: 471 (59 per cent) and No: 324 (41 per cent). What do you think? Send me your views and we’ll publish the best (ED)

My blood type? Passport number? Uh ...

Family Safe Holidays lets you set up a free “online safety deposit box” to securely store emergency contact details, medical conditions, travel itineraries, passport numbers and other important information that can then be accessed by yourself or nominated contacts in case of an emergency anywhere in the world.

Updated TB guidelines

Tuberculosis and air travel: guidelines for prevention and control (third edition) is available from WHO Press.

BMA travel health guide online

The series of books produced by the BMA and sold mainly through pharmacies include an excellent one written by Dr Gil Lea and Bernadette Carroll called Understanding travel and holiday health. It’s no longer available in hard copy, but you can access it online.

NaTHNaC website updated

The main differences on the revised National Travel Health Network and Centre site are:

On the Clinical Updates page you can now search by disease, country and date
On the Country Pages, where outbreaks from the last six months are posted on the individual page, there is a link to all outbreaks for that country

NICE guidelines on flu

NICE has issued guidance to the NHS in England and Wales recommending the use of oseltamivir and zanamivir for the prevention of flu if all of the following apply:

The amount of flu virus going around is enough that if someone has a flu-like illness it is likely that it has been caused by the flu virus.
The person is in an at-risk group.
The person has been in contact with someone with a flu-like illness and can start treatment within 36 hours (for zanamivir) or 48 hours (for oseltamivir).
The person has not been effectively protected by vaccination.

NICE advised these recommendations should not reduce efforts to give influenza vaccination to people for whom it is recommended in national guidelines. The guidance does not cover widespread epidemics. View the full guidelines.