The first UK swine flu death in a person without underlying health problems was reported on Friday. According to today’s Daily Mail, the man was “admitted to Basildon Hospital in Essex on July 1 and was placed in isolation in the intensive care unit.” The death has been referred for a post-mortem. In the United […]
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David Pencheon: Beware off-set
When something is everyone’s problem, it so often gets treated as though it is no-one’s problem. Although climate change is now widely accepted as the most serious health threat to face us, you would not immediately see health services or health professionals as the most vocal or active. […]
How do you monitor swine flu?
Yesterday, reporters descended on Whitehall to hear about the methods of influenza monitoring. Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer led the numbers feast alongside Justin McCracken, chief executive of the Health Protection Agency, and Ian Dalton, the new flu czar. Sir Liam explained what data are being tracked: total number of cases, antiviral usage, […]
Are swine flu parties an urban myth?
Swine flu parties are the hottest ticket in town. Everyone’s been talking about them yet no-one seems to know anyone who’s been to one. Peter Flegg, a physician in Blackpool, is suspicious. It would appear the swine flu “parties” that the press have been in a lather about recently exist only in their fevered imaginations. […]
H1N1 – the science bit
Yesterday the number of deaths in the UK rose to seven. So far all of those who have died with H1N1 in the UK have had serious underlying health conditions and little information has been released about whether these people have died with H1N1 or because of it. Meanwhile the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has […]
Joe Collier: In defence of arrogance
If I am to believe my critics, I am arrogant. By definition, arrogance is usually used pejoratively (as are such terms as unpatriotic, subversive, anti-establishment, irreverent, all of which I have been accused over the years), and describes people who have an exaggerated (inflated) view of their abilities (especially when compared to other’s); tend to […]
Flu vaccines and swine tig
Vaccination plans for the UK are slowly beginning to emerge. On Thursday Sir Liam Donaldson confirmed that 60 million vaccines are scheduled to be produced by the end of the year with the first batches ready for administration within the next month. The two different vaccines (one made by Baxter, the other by GSK) each […]
Partners in swine
Yesterday I attended the Department of Health briefing on swine flu where the suave new secretary of state for health, Andy Burnham, and his partner in swine, Sir Liam Donaldson, gave an update. Cases have doubled in the last week and at the current rate could hit 100,000 per day. The big news, though, is […]
Was H1N1 leaked from a laboratory?
391 cases of H1N1 were confirmed in the UK yesterday bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 6929. In Argentina, the state of Buenos Aires has declared a health emergency, with schools closing for their winter breaks early – the city’s mayor has called for families not to “treat this as extra holidays for […]
Come swine with me
My plans for a H1N1 themed dinner party “come swine with me” are in tatters after Dr Jarvis, chairman of the British Medical Association’s public health committee, yesterday declared swine flu parties not to be a good idea. Apparently it will threaten to undo all the good work that’s been done to contain the outbreak. […]