Blogs

Blog: How to kiss during a flu pandemic (Nov 25, 2009 06:21 PM)

The first cases of H1N1 infection resistant to oseltamivir (Tamiflu) spreading from person-to-person were found in Wales last week.

BMJ blog: Informed consent, the doctor, and H1N1 immunisation (Nov 20, 2009 12:35 PM)

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 (Nov 16, 2009 02:47 PM)

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 (Nov 13, 2009 03:55 PM)

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 (Oct 30, 2009 03:07 PM)

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 (Oct 13, 2009 09:03 AM)

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 (Sep 16, 2009 11:56 AM)

... 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 (Sep 03, 2009 10:05 AM)

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 (Aug 27, 2009 05:11 PM)

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 (Aug 25, 2009 10:41 AM)

 

Tom Nolan on historic flu remedies (Aug 20, 2009 09:27 AM)

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 (Aug 20, 2009 09:14 AM)

 

Carl Heneghan and Matthew Thompson on Tamiflu in children: what’s all the fuss (Aug 14, 2009 02:26 PM)

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? (Aug 11, 2009 04:13 PM)

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 (Aug 07, 2009 03:57 PM)

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? (Aug 04, 2009 03:23 PM)

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 (Aug 03, 2009 03:46 PM)

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 (Jul 30, 2009 08:56 AM)

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: (Jul 31, 2009 02:53 PM)

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 (Jul 27, 2009 03:56 PM)

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.