Medical News Wrap Up (2)

Story of the Week

The £473mil we spend on Tamiflu may have been a waste of money

During the Swine Flu epidemic of 2009 we spend £473 million on Tamiflu, a drug that was supposed to prevent the outbreak of flu and stop hospitalisation. A new study has shown several things:

1. It does not reduce the risk of pneumonia or hospitalisation
2. It does not prevent transmission of flu
3. Tamiflu has serious effects, such as "psychiatric adverse events, renal adverse events and metabolic adverse events"

It has a similar effectiveness as paracetamol on flu.

Some believe it is effective to slightly reduce the symptoms of flu, so should be useful in the long run.

The Law

A law has been passed to sell HIV tests over the counter.

It is now legal to test for HIV at home using an over-the-counter test. The only problem is that these tests does not yet exist in the UK. They have existed since 2012 in the US and should be sold in the UK this year or 2015. Kits can currently be bought online but a lot give false results.

The aim of this is to diagnose the estimated 25000 undiagnosed HIV positive patients in the UK. The reason there are so many suspected undiagnosed patients is because they don't want to get tested due to the stigma of HIV.

Statistics on Population with HIV from 2012 (77610 patients)

The NHS

There is an online petition against the raise nurses and midwives registration fees

The government raised nurses and midwives annual registration fees from £76 to £100 two years ago and now want to raise the figure to £120. Nurses and midwives currently contribute more than £67 million to the nurses and midwives council per year.

If you do want to find out more/sign the petition the link is below.

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/60164

Illnesses and Conditions

There is a "breakthrough" for Hepatitis C

A clinical trial for a new drug for Hepatitis C has had very positive results. Out of 208 patients, 191 haven't got Hepatitis C after 12 weeks. Currently only 3% of patients opt for the current treat, which only works 50% of the time.

Hepatitis C is a STD. 90% of people were cured in 12 weeks with this drug and 96% in 24 weeks. This could be a major breakthrough.

Young men with eating disorders are being overlooked

Eating disorders are often considered as a "female condition," even though 1/4 of anorexics are male. Eating disorders in men are "underdiagnosed, undertreated and underresearched" which is partly because men do not have the same awareness as women and as a result don't come forward. It is estimated the NHS spends £70 million on eating disorders per year.

Spending time on Facebook could lower confidence in women

A study suggests that spending time on Facebook looking at selfies and other photos the more they criticise themselves. This could be more influential than pictures of celebrities. The study used 881 college students in the US and answered questions on Facebook use, eating and exercise regimes, and body image.

Medical News Wrap Up

The biggest medical news stories from this week.

News

Fake HIV negative certificates can be bought in Ugandan Clinics

In private clinics in Kampala sell fake negative HIV certificates due to the stigma of the disease and the limitations of getting a job with HIV.

HIV rates were at 18.5% in 1992, dropping to 6.3% in 2005 and had gone up to 7.2% by 2012.

There's been an Ebola Outbreak in Guinea

86 people have died in Guinea recently due to an outbreak of ebola. There is no current cure or vaccine for Ebola. Ebola causes membranes to break down in the body which causes a lot of bleeding. Some strains are more dangerous than others.

Statistics

Scarlet Fever cases have reached the largest weekly peak since 1982. 

There were 883 cases this week. There has been a higher outbreak of Scarlet Fever in 2014 than in previous years; from weeks 5-8 of this year there were 868 reported cases, compared to an average of 444 from the previous four years.

Scarlet Fever is caused by the bacteria Streptococcus progenies. It is a red-pink rash that feels like sandpaper. It is extremely infectious, however it is much milder now due to the treatment by antibiotics.

Picture from NHS Website

I want to be a doctor #3 - The Drugs Don't Work review

So as a conscientious student with a book buying addiction I went to Daunt Books in Notting Hill and bought "The Drugs Don't Work - A Global Threat" by Professor Dame Sally C. Davies. I mainly did it because I haven't read any medical books since "The Emporer of All Maladies," which is size 7 font over 500 pages so I didn't finish it, and a little part of me that thought everyone in my school knows everything so I was trying to keep up (when in fact it's just the girl next to me who wants to go into Biochemistry when we have Chemistry and Biochemistry).

Did I enjoy the book? Not particularly.

Just to let you know my standard I have taken my Biology GCSE and got a grade I was really happy with and I am now studying Biology AS Level.

This book did not stretch me. It didn't stretch my sister. She's 13. It is incredibly basic and the science is very mundane (it literally tells you to wash your hands). The table at the back was quite interesting,  reading about the different antibiotics developed but everything else was very basic facts I had learned 3-5 years ago. I understand we have to raise awareness for the use of antibiotics but this book will not change anything.

We need PSAs. It's taught in schools, but only at GCSE, and many people drop Biology before this point. This book will not save the world. Only nerds, like myself, will venture into the medical section of the bookshop and we already know everything you tell us to a more advanced level.

It is quite an enjoyable read. I wouldn't say it's well written but it's enjoyable.

Penguin, why did you publish this? Is it because she has a title? Is it because publishers are not scientists? Or is it the fact you thought you could make a difference? If it's the last reason, I'm sorry for you. This is not the way to save the world. The Book Doesn't Work - A Global Threat.

I want to be a doctor #2 - ObamaCare

ObamaCare came into action on October 1st in the USA and the other day I took the time to understand what this is, how it affects Americans and why on earth the government shut down.

The main issue with the US health system is that it's too expensive. It's main objective is making profit and that's not right. Yes, every business has to make money because that's how growth occurs however, when your profiteering hurts people, and it does, what you are doing is wrong. The US citizens pay more tax proportionately than the UK in health care which is perverse as our health care is free.

ObamaCare is not like the NHS. That suprised me. The NHS provides every British citizen with free health care. ObamaCare provides everyone with insurance. The basic idea is that everyone is entitled to health care so everyone must have insurance. If you are below a certain level of the poverty line the government pays for your insurance and that is what the Republicans are against. There are also different levels of insurance depending on how much coverage you want.

This means now it is illegal to not have health insurance. However, now less wealthy people who are just above this poverty line have to pay for insurance, meaning that these people now have the biggest problems.

But what I don't get is why, WHY, the American Government shut down over this. Why is one political party in America against health care for all? Why shouldn't people pay so your country is healthy? Even if you support capitalism in the extremes, don't you want a fitter workforce? Not giving people free health care is similar to cave man civilisation:

If you are ill then you die.

It just feels like there's a lack of compassion within the Republicans and I feel like that is the biggest problem with American society, not the obesity, not books that will "ruin your children", not alcohol, not TV. It is your lack of caring towards those that need it most.

So start your government up. You are fighting an argument that has a moral argument that is so crystal clear I wonder what you're trying to prove.

Care about your people and they will care for you.

#58 - Do something good for my career