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Pandemic flu related blogs

BMJ blog: Informed consent, the doctor, and H1N1 immunisation (Thursday 19 November 2009): How does a doctor obtain informed consent for H1N1 immunisation consistent with General Medical Council guidance? The Department of Health’s guidance does not provide sufficient information for this. This is an attempt by Andrew Rouse and Tom Marshall to rectify this omission, providing information required for informed consent consistent with good professional practice.
Mary E Black on flu suits and holy water dispensers (Monday 16 November 2009): Plagues create business opportunities and the worried well in any era present a commercial opportunity. In the Middle Ages, the Black Death and the Great Plague saw brisk sales in fumigators, herbal remedies, and the plague suit - predecessor of the DuPont TK555T HazMat suit, and equally unsettling for nervous patients. Quacks (from the old Dutch word Quacksalver, for one who boasts or “quacks” about his or her salves) thrived in an era unchallenged by scientific evidence and online Cochrane reports.
Tom Nolan: New pandemic flu guidelines - don’t forget your oximeter (Friday 13 November 2009): New guidelines on the management of pandemic H1N1 influenza were published recently by the Department of Health.
Tom Nolan on what every doctor should know about the swine flu vaccine (Friday 30 October 2009): The H1N1 vaccination programme is underway in the UK and many other countries across the globe. In Sweden a million people have already been vaccinated.
Blog: A lucky flu break (Tuesday 13 October 2009): England’s chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson can sound gloomy and pessimistic but he sounded very upbeat in this week’s swine flu update...
doc2doc: GPs to be paid £100m for giving swine flu vaccine (Wednesday 16 September 2009): ... so reads a headline in today's Times newspaper following agreement between the Department of Health and the BMA's General Practice Committee that GPs in England are to be paid £5.25 for every dose of vaccine they administer.
Swine flu estimated to be 100 times more virulent than seasonal flu (Thursday 03 September 2009): PLOS Currents: Influenza is a journal with a difference. Mixing features of a journal with those of blogs and discussion forums it's bound to ruffle some feathers. It describes itself as "a moderated collection for rapid and open sharing of useful new scientific data, analyses, and ideas."
The flu will be back after the break (Thursday 27 August 2009): Two swine flu call centres in England will close on Sunday with the loss of 1200 jobs reports the Guardian. Demand for Tamiflu has plummeted ...
On swabs, tips, and a flu game (Tuesday 25 August 2009)
Tom Nolan on historic flu remedies (Thursday 20 August 2009): Last week we learnt who will be offered the vaccine against swine flu first. Priority groups include people in high risk groups age between 6 months and 65 years, pregnant women, household contacts of immune-compromised people, and clinical staff. But how many people will actually go and have the vaccine?
Syed Shah on being the first case of influenza A/H1N1 in the United Arab Emirates (Thursday 20 August 2009)
Carl Heneghan and Matthew Thompson on Tamiflu in children: what’s all the fuss (Friday 14 August 2009): The last few days has been hectic since the publication of our systematic review in the BMJ on the use of antivirals in children...
Is Tamiflu useful in children or not? (Tuesday 11 August 2009): Why did the operator at the National Pandemic Flu Service give the child Tamiflu? The cynics will say because the algorithm told him to, but the real answer, according to the UK government, is that it’s the safest thing to do to prevent severe infections.
The calm, waves of flu, vaccines, and other stories (Friday 07 August 2009): Calm settled over swine flu coverage this week as the northern hemisphere headed into the summer holidays; but much remains uncertain.
How much flu is out there? (Tuesday 04 August 2009): The Health Protection Agency estimates that there were 110,000 new cases of swine flu in England last week,10,000 more than the week before. But how did they work this out and how accurate is it?
Side effects, Tamiflu, and the swine flu hotline (Friday 31 July 2009): A hundred and five thousand people with flu symptoms were prescribed Tamiflu via the new hotline last week. But there are some unintended consequences.
Collection point nonsense (Thursday 30 July 2009): Talk of swine flu seems to have died down considerably since the launch of the national flu pandemic service in England last week. Despite the lack of news generally, it’s no longer on the front page of every newspaper - perhaps due to the telling off that the media got at the weekend (see Monday’s blog).
Pregnancy and swine flu: (Monday 27 July 2009): If you’re pregnant lock yourself in the house, shut the curtains and wear a facemask if you so much as put your nose outside the door… has advice to pregnant women finally gone too far?
Critical care and the pandemic panic (Monday 27 July 2009): A “panic pandemic” is worsening the crisis in the UK said health ministers over the weekend. Andy Burnham, the health secretary, told The Observer of the need for people to keep a sense of perspective.
Sneeze and Click service launched in England (Friday 24 July 2009): Last week 100,000 people are estimated to have had swine flu in the UK. 840 are in hospital and 63 are in intensive care according to Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson. The number of deaths has climbed to 26, while worldwide 700 are thought to have died.
Prescribing antivirals - is beyond 48 hours too late? (Wednesday 22 July 2009): After Monday’s statement to the House of Commons from Andy Burnham (you can watch all ten hours of the commons session here), the RCGP emailed members to summarise this and other developments.
Confusion over flu advice in pregnancy (Monday 20 July 2009): A storm erupted over the weekend about the government’s advice to pregnant women on swine flu.
Swine flu forecast (Friday 17 July 2009): Yesterday was a busy day for swine flu in the UK. First we learnt that 65,000 people could die from it in the UK if the government’s worst case scenario predictions come true. That’s three times more than the excess deaths during the 1999/2000 winter flu season and double the number in the two previous global pandemics in 1957-8 and 1968-9.
Feeling the strain of swine (Thursday 16 July 2009): New cases of swine flu went up by 42% in England last week according to new figures from the Royal College of General Practitioners.
Celebrity swine watch (Monday 13 July 2009): 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 States, the government is encouraging the public to help in the fight against swine flu.
How do you monitor swine flu? (Friday 10 July 2009): 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.
Are swine flu parties an urban myth? (Thursday 09 July 2009): 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.
H1N1, the science bit (Tuesday 07 July 2009): 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.
Swine flu vaccines and swine tig (Monday 06 July 2009): 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 come in two doses to be given three weeks apart.
Partners in swine (Friday 03 July 2009): 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.
Was H1N1 leaked from a laboratory? (Thursday 02 July 2009): 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 the kids” and more of a “time for the children to stay at home as much as possible”. Meanwhile Australia now has 4568 confirmed cases (198 more yesterday) and 9 deaths.
Come swine with me (Wednesday 01 July 2009): 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.
Too early to say mild (Tuesday 30 June 2009): The number of laboratory confirmed cases of swine flu in England has shot up by nearly fifty percent since last Friday. 1604 new cases were confirmed between 27-29th June, bringing the total number to 4968.
The spread of swine flu (Monday 29 June 2009): “We’re saying there have been at least a million cases of this new H1N1 virus in the United States so far this year. “ That’s according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which held a press conference on Friday which shed some more light on the epidemiology and spread of the disease.
Tom Nolan chooses his own swine flu adventure (Friday 26 June 2009): The pandemic continues to spread throughout all corners of the world, with Serbia and Iraq getting their first cases yesterday. In the UK the West Midlands still lead the way in new cases with 115 confirmed there yesterday.
Tom Nolan’s flu blog (Thursday 25 June 2009): The media’s interest in H1N1 may have declined, but the number of cases appears to be on the increase, and not just in the southern hemisphere where we’re told to look to. The World Health Organisation’s latest map of H1N1 cases gives an interesting if simplistic snapshot of the most affected areas globally.
Annabel Ferriman on questions for Margaret Chan (Monday 22 June 2009): The spread of A/H1N1 flu has propelled Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organization, into the limelight. On 11 June she was on television and radio programmes across the world, declaring that “the world is now at the start of the 2009 influenza pandemic” and that “further spread is considered inevitable”
Swine flu comes home: a GP’s tale (Monday 22 June 2009): So there we were, early Wednesday afternoon, preparations under way for the evening surgeries, when the phones started to ring off the hook. Almost simultaneously we got an email from the PCT telling us that 143 children from the local primary and infant schools were sick with an as yet unidentified viral illness.
Swine flu fear and loathing in Mexico…and London (Tuesday 16 June 2009): My flight to Cancun, Mexico, to attend the Conference of the Academy for Eating Disorders (AED) was scheduled for Sunday, 26th of April. The day before there were several anxious emails about the swine flu outbreak in Mexico City, but a reassuring response from the AED president followed: of course the conference would go ahead.
Monitoring public anxiety about flu, Keith J Petrie and Kate Faasse (Thursday 11 June 2009): Greater monitoring of the web could provide a guide to public anxiety about flu outbreaks and social media could be used more intensively to provide relevant public health information to younger groups.
Mairi Scott and Tom Love on pandemic flu training for retired health care professionals (Wednesday 06 May 2009): Pressures on the workforce are going to be one of the big challenges for the NHS in a pandemic. One strategy which might help with this problem is to draw upon retired health professionals, who could fulfil a number of possible roles.
Joe Collier on manoeuvres for avoiding Mexican flu (Wednesday 06 May 2009): Mexican (swine) flu is clearly a threat. It is difficult to know exactly how best to avoid being infected, and although the risks for a Londoner are remote here are some changes I now make in my day-to-day life in an attempt to stave contagion off.
doc2doc blog: Carlos Cuello’s updates from Mexico (Saturday 02 May 2009)
BMJ.com blog: Adrian Gonzalez on swine flu in Mexico (Thursday 30 April 2009): In 2003 I was at the BMJ’s offices in Tavistock Square, London, when China’s SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) epidemic was at its peak. At that time the risk of infection seemed far away. Today is different; I’m living and working in Tlalpan, the district of Mexico City that holds the largest concentration of hospitals and healthcare professionals.
BMJ.com blog: BM Hedge on Flu (Thursday 30 April 2009): I was working in Ipswich in a cardiothoracic centre during the 1968-69 ‘Flu epidemic. During the Xmas week end of 1968 I had to be on call from Friday through Monday morning as most of my colleagues were on leave. I had to certify more than 50 deaths, mostly in the geriatric age group. Elderly patients with cardiac and respiratory co-morbidities used to come down with ‘Flu and die within hours of admission.
Blog post: case reports on pandemic flu (Wednesday 29 April 2009): It is great to see that the whole world is discussing case reports! Led by the World Health Organisation we are constantly being kept up to date with a growing case series of swine influenza.
BMJ.com blog: Jane Parry on Flu (Monday 20 April 2009): Hong Kongers have lived through more than their fair share of bird flu scares across the border in China over the last few years, and, of course, Sars in 2003 when 299 people in the city died of the disease. Then there was the cull of Hong Kong’s entire poultry population back in 1997. It’s not surprising, then that 7 million residents of this crowded city are a little twitchy about pandemic flu threats.

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