Promiscuous Bugs

Hugh Pennington is a microbiologist and although he's officially retired he admits: "I have never worked harder in my life than I am doing right now. Bugs are my life and they are doing well." I'm sure there are few of us who haven't heard his opinion of bugs and superbugs.

In the news this week is the arrival of a new superbug labelled NDM-1, an antibiotic-resistant enzyme dubbed the 'new MRSA'. This is of interest to me because, when I contracted clostridium difficile in hospital a few years ago, it took a three courses of antibiotic treatment for the symptoms to subside. Luckily I was healthy before I was infected because I was able to fight from a position of strength but if I'd been ill prior to catching the bug, I hesitate to consider the outcome.

Now we have NMD-1, supposedly imported from the Indian subcontinent. Professor Pennington has shared his knowledge of this new superbug with the readers of the Telegraph this morning. The history makes interesting reading. Another expert in this field is currently surrounded by chicken crap, but when he's finished whatever he has to do with it - the mind boggles - he promises to give his opinion.

In the meantime, if you do have to attend a hospital for any reason, wash your hands at every opportunity. Soap and hot water is the only defence against infection. As Professor Pennington says:

It is clear that the NDM-1 gene had spread to different bacterial types. NDM-1 production is getting commoner; it is now the commonest kind of carbapenemase being detected in Britain. The only good news – and it hardly qualifies as that – is that there hasn’t been much spread in hospitals, yet.

What can be done? The most important action we can take right now is to make sure that hospital control procedures in Britain are as good as they can be. Stopping the spread of NDM-1 producers from patient to patient is a no-brainer. Keeping the numbers of the bacteria down will also reduce the likelihood of the spread of the gene to other organisms. Handwashing is still paramount as a way of interrupting transmission. Physically isolating patients is crucial.

Health “tourism” is here to stay. But, just as knowing where someone has been is vital in diagnosing a fever, the question also has to be asked of patients who have been in hospital abroad. It has been standard practice for years in Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands for the assumption to be made that patients who have been in hospital in Britain are MRSA-positive until screening test results have come back.

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The Latest Skin Cancer Treatment

Non-malignant skin cancer is one of the world's fastest growing diseases. Two university professors, Robert Ferguson from Dundee University and Professor Ifor Samuel from St Andrews University, founded Ambicare Health with the intention of tapping into the growing market for photodynamic therapy (PDT). This involves a drug being applied to the skin and then activated by a light source, causing it to destroy the cancer cells.

Normally the therapy has to be done in hospital but Ambicare has developed a wearable drive, called the Ambulight,which allows patients to get on with their normal lives.

The company has just completed a £1.7m fund-raising exercise to enable it to start rolling out the product around the UK and overseas. Supporters include Longbow Capital, the Scottish Venture Fund run by Scottish Enterprise and publishers D C Thomson.

It's good to see D C Thomson, the family-owned publishing business, support this venture. When many other newspapers are losing readership, D C Thomson continues to show there is money in journalism.

This treatment for skin cancer has so many benefits, not least the avoidance of an in-patient hospital stay. More people having this disease will be cured without the risk of contacting one of the serious hospital acquired infections. Anything which keeps us away from hospitals is a winner.

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High Blood Pressure? The Cure

A glass of beetroot juice a day could save your life, according to Hypertension, the journal of the American Heart Association.

Beetroot is rich in antioxidants and contains calcium and phosphorous while providing nearly 5mg of vitamin C per 100mg. So it's all good for you.

According to the journal patients who drank a glass of the juice once a day were found to have significantly lower blood pressure just 24 hours later. Researchers at the William Harvey Research Institute at Queen Mary University in London compared patients who were given a 250ml glass of beetroot juice a day with those who took nitrate tablets. They found that the two methods were equally successful in reducing blood pressure.

The nitrates in the juice produce a gas known as nitric oxide which widens blood vessels and arteries and lowers blood pressure. High blood pressure, or hypertension, affects 16 million of us and is a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke and kidney failure.

Scientists have already shown how drinking beetroot juice can boost stamina. Last year researchers from the University of Exeter and Peninsula Medical School found that it could have as much effect as a punishing training regime. They found that healthy young men were able to increase their stamina by up to 16% after drinking a glass of beetroot juice for a week.

There is one side effect. Those who consume large amounts are likely to experience purple urine, or beeturia as it's known to scientists. A small price to pay I'd say.

Beetroot juice stains anything it touches so make sure you're wide awake before pouring your daily 250ml. I'd drink it before getting dressed for the day.

source

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The 'Righteous' Move Onwards

For some time now LegIron and other bloggers have warned that the smoking ban was only the beginning of the programme the Righteous have in mind for the population.

The smoking ban was tested in Scotland before it was applied throughout the UK. That was a strategy planned by Westminster and carried out by Jack McConnell, although he gets the credit for introducing it. He didn't introduce it, he piloted it here on instructions from his London masters.

Now it's the turn of Wales. Sugar is to be banned in all Welsh hospitals. The excuse is it has no nutritional SDHp benefit and poses a dental risk. NHS bosses have also been ordered to remove sugary coffee from all its vending machines. The guide lines from the Welsh Assembly recommend no junk food, including crisps and fizzy drinks in machines. Instead it suggests water and dried fruit should be sold.

Tea drinkers can opt for an artificial sweetener. An Assembly spokesman said:

“We are working to create an environment where it is easier for people to make healthy choices.”

There is no healthy choice. There's only one choice - take it or leave it. The Department of Health said it is unlikely to impose a ban in England. Note the careful wording. Similar statements were made about the smoking ban in England.

It's common knowledge sugar is beneficial to trauma and shock victims. Many people suffering these symptoms attend hospitals. More money for big pharma because if sugar is banned then chemical medication may be required. Will the Welsh protest? I can but hope. Would you like to know that NHS staff were banned from giving you a cup of strong, sugary tea when you were in shock?

source

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Joy

Today is Budget Day so let's begin on a happy note. There's sure to be something in the budget to make every one of us feel a little gloomy later.

This baby was born deaf. Watch the 8-month-old's reaction when his cochlear implant is activated and he hears his mother's voice for the first time.


Thanks Dick Puddlecote

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Act Now to Protect Your Privacy

This email was sent to me earlier. Although I'm still investigating whether it applies in Scotland, so far it would appear it does. If I find evidence to the contrary I will post an update.

Currently only basic information is held for access by all, for example name, address, date of birth and current medication.

London wide NHS spine upload - ACT NOW

Monday, 1 March, 2010


The Department of Health is currently sending mailshots to people in London and 4 other strategic health authorities, informing them of 'changes to your health records'. These changes are presented as necessary and inevitable but they are not. They shift control of health information from medical professionals to the state and will result in YOUR private details being uploaded onto a centralised system accessible to hundreds of thousands of people - not just doctors.

The changes are presented as being for your own good but they undermine the fundamental basis of the patient-doctor relationship - medical confidentiality - that is absolutely essential if people are to disclose things about themselves for their own treatment and well-being, and for the
wider public health.

Doctors oppose this. Professional bodies oppose it; the BMA believes everyone should be asked for their explicit consent before anything is uploaded ('opt in'). Unfortunately, you are only being given a limited right to opt out and the Department is making that as difficult as it can - for example, it fails to include a copy of the opt out form with the letter!

If you do nothing or fail to respond within the deadline, the government simply presumes your consent. Your personal details and some sensitive
medical information, including your last six months' prescriptions, will be uploaded onto a 'Summary Care Record' (SCR). Once your SCR has been accessed, it will never be deleted from the system. And over time, more and more of your health records will be added to it. As the Prime Minister has already discovered on the Scottish version of the system, the so-called 'protections' bolted on are ineffective - his and others' medical records have already been compromised.

Over two years' independent research shows little evidence of the claimed benefits. But the government is spending millions of pounds bribing Health Authorities to send out these letters before the general election. Maybe because the opposition parties have both said they'll scrap SCR, and build something more localised and patient-focussed instead...

WHAT SHOULD I DO?

People with serious medical conditions might consider having an SCR, but many already do sensible things like wearing a MedicAid bracelet or carrying a recent prescription. At the very least, talk to your GP at your next regular appointment.

If you want your medical records to stay confidential to your current GP practice, just OPT OUT.

If you are at all unsure, e.g. if you're worried about the security of your health information or you simply want more time to think about it, just OPT
OUT - you can always opt in later if you change your mind.

Please also tell other people - your family, your friends and co-workers. Forward a link to this page. We just don't know how many thousands of people will have their medical information uploaded without their knowledge or consent, but you can help prevent it by spreading the word.


HOW DO I OPT OUT?

1) If you live in London, the Londonwide Local Medical Committees (LMCs) have produced their own information sheet and a simplified opt-out form:

http://www.lmc.org.uk/uploads/files/news/SCR/scrpatientfactsheetfeb10.pdf

THIS WILL ONLY WORK FOR GP PRACTICES IN LONDON. If you are registered with a GP practice anywhere else in England, please use one of the following options.

2) You can ask your GP to put a 'stop order' on your record using the opt out letter produced by TheBigOptOut.org (TBOO):

http://www.TheBigOptOut.org/optoutletter

If you haven't received the NHS mailshot yet, this will ensure that your record is marked 'patient refused consent for upload'. We encourage you to
read the rest of the TBOO website, which explains more about other NHS IT systems and how they affect your privacy.

3) If you receive the NHS mailshot, it won't contain an opt out form and the web address given doesn't point at the form either. You don't need to waste your money calling the 0845 number. Be aware that this PDF is heavily biased against opting out, but the opt out form is on page 3:

http://www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/systemsandservices/scr/documents/optout.pdf

We also have a Facebook fan page which we'd appreciate it if you could join and invite your friends. We need to spread the word about this latest action. Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Protect-Your-Medical-Confidentiality-ACT-NOW/330345503401?ref=nf


www.no2id.net

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Don't Say You Weren't Warned

There's not much the Americans do that we don't copy. Massachusetts are to impose martial law for swine flu vaccinations. Don't say you weren't warned. I hope they have enough room in the prisons for those of us who have no intention of allowing a syringe containing this vaccine anywhere near us.

Thanks to Goodnight Vienna and Fausty

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Grey is Good for You

I don't know if men or women get more anxious about grey hair but, if the latest science is to be believed, we all should welcome it. Hair goes grey when the number of stem cells in hair follicles declines. Now a scientist of Toyko Medical and Dental University in Japan and colleagues have found what causes this decline in mice.

When the researchers exposed mice to radiation and chemicals that harm DNA, damaged stem cells transformed permanently into melanocytes which produce the pigments that colour hair and their numbers are kept topped up by stem cells. This ultimately led to fewer melanocytes, as it meant there were fewer stem cells capable of topping up the melanocyte pool. The mice also went grey.

David Fisher, a cancer researcher at Harvard Medical School, suggests such processes may hep protect us from cancer, by discouraging the proliferation of stem cells with damaged DNA, which could pass on mutations. "One likely beneficial effect is the removal of potentially dangerous cells that may contain pre-cancerous capabilities," he says.

So don't think grey hair is all bad news. Yes it shows we're all getting older but it could be very good for you.

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The Price of Paracetemol

Yesterday, when shopping, I decided to stock up on paracetemol because there were only two left in the medicine box.  Nothing to do with stock-piling at all or worrying about being in contact with someone who sneezes in my face.

Wish I'd read this blog before I went out.  It goes to show that price isn't everything - of course we all knew that didn't we.

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Update: Swine Flu Arrives in Scotland

UPDATE

Nicola Sturgeon the Scottish government Health Secretary, has announced the couple who were being tested for the swine flu virus in Lanarkshire, have proved positive.  They are recovering well in hospital she stated.

Time to take note of  Ampers' Rants post methinks and in particular his link to a friend who lives on the outskirts of Mexico City.  She has done her research well as he says.

Also remember to wash your hands as often as possible.  This is effective against airborne spores. This may make many realise just how important hand washing is and how ineffective all these new 'anti bacterial' products are in this day and age.  Nothing like soap and hot water plus good old bleach.

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Swine Flu

It's worrying that words like 'pandemic' and 'killer virus' are being spoken rather recklessly when it appears the world health authorities have no idea how many people have actually caught the virus or even how many have sadly died from it.

Whether it is based on counter terrorism intelligence or WHO fact gathering, it appears that governments and the media are all anxious to stir up alarm and fear amongst the population before the real dangers are known and before the potential consequences can be correctly estimated.  Of course we should be advised that there is a problem but we should be given clear instructions on how best to avoid it and be given regularly updated information.  Numbers drawn out of a hat, rumour and sensationalism do nothing to help matters and can be counter-productive.

As I type the one suspected case in England has been given the all-clear and we await the test results of the couple in Scotland.

Should you wish to follow the progress of swine flu throughout the world this site offers good advice about sites which are useful.

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