D Fleming

..10) Acceptance by the public and by health professionals of influenza vaccination as the major plank on which the impact of influenza is controlled has still not been achieved...

..In this study, we assessed whether data on RSV collected by the European Influenza Surveillance Scheme (EISS) could be used to build an RSV surveillance system in Europe...

..A large gap remains between the scientific appreciation of the risks from antimicrobial resistance and effective means to measure it and thereby hopefully control it...

..Routine monitoring of shingles in sentinel practice networks is commended as a method of assuring recording quality and as a means of estimating the survey population where the registered population is not known...

..Influenza contingency planning needs to take account of these deaths in determining policy for prophylaxis and in providing facilities for cardio-respiratory resuscitation...

..To estimate excess morbidity during periods of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) activity...

..In this report we discuss current issues surrounding the impact of influenza on the health care utilisation of elderly people...

..To quantify mortality attributable to influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection in children...

..Practice-based morbidity surveys inform on the prevalence of diseases presenting for health care. The last major survey in England and Wales was conducted in 1991...

..This article covers a range of issues surrounding acute bronchitis, including epidemiology and pathogenesis, as well as the management, prevention and treatment of disease in children...

..A set of morbidity codes is recommended which taken together include 3.2% of age group 0-14 years, 7.5% of 15-44 years and 16.6% of 45-64 years...

..The clinical burden of disease associated with RSV is as great if not greater than influenza in patients of all ages presenting to general practitioners...

..For the other two conditions no unusual peaks of incidence were observed in any region. Operational research based on disciplined recording of morbidity in general practice can deliver timely surveillance data on bioterrorist threats...

..The prevalence of diabetes known to general practitioners (GPs) in different European countries has been investigated and the usefulness of sentinel practice networks in delivering prevalence data on diabetes has been evaluated...

..91 (95% CI 0.85-0.98). We found no benefit in respiratory infection outcomes attributable to statin use, although uniformly higher ORs in non-vaccinated statin users might suggest synergism between statins and influenza vaccination...

..The combination of cough and fever in conditons of known local influenza virus circulation provide a useful indicator of diagnosis to guide management...

..Estimation of influenza vaccine effectiveness (V/E) is needed early during influenza outbreaks in order to optimise management of influenza--a need which will be even greater in a pandemic situation...

..The representativeness of practice networks is important when using the information obtained to guide health policy...

..National policies based on demonstrated cost effectiveness are desirable, but these should not become a barrier to parents wishing to secure a benefit for their child or family, provided there is clear evidence of clinical efficacy...

..The report advocates the EISS model of influenza surveillance, which involves the integrated collection of clinical and laboratory data in the same population using sentinel practitioners...

..This review reports on the introduction of zanamivir (Relenza) to the market with particular reference to experience in the UK...

..Increasing pressure on hospitals during epidemic periods are shown and are attributed to changing patterns of health-care delivery...

..Reductions in the number of dispensed antibiotics and the incidence of respiratory infections presented to GPs and have been reported. Whether this trend applies to skin infections requires further investigation...

..As part of that programme we considered how primary care might contribute relevant data...

..There is good evidence of reduced prescribing of antibiotics in recent years, but the reason for this has not been established...

..Though robust programmes of vaccination are needed, vaccination by itself will not eliminate the impact of influenza on hospital admissions in winter...

..Options currently available need to be directed to a wider range of people than those conventionally regarded as the target risk group...

..Hospitals experience winter surges in admissions due to respiratory infections. The roles of acute bronchitis and influenza-like illness (ILI) in the timing and severity of these surges are examined over the years 1990-91 to 2004-05...

..We discuss the potential benefit of influenza vaccination on these outcomes, including the recent controversial debate over the effectiveness of influenza vaccination...

..Insect bites are commonly implicated in the development of impetigo. There are, however, very few data available to describe the seasonal incidences and association between the two conditions...

..CONCLUSIONS: Data gathered systematically from the surveillance of consultations in primary care are important to the measurement of WHO 'Health 21' targets...

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..When fulfilling identical minimal criteria they can provide comparable estimates of morbidity, ultimately leading to improved national and European surveillance...

..Furthermore, we show that these diagnoses are comparable between countries. Therefore, information from general practice registration networks is a valuable and valid source for international comparisons...

..In many European countries, maturity onset diabetes mellitus (DM) is to a large extent managed in general practice...

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..Zanamivir was well tolerated and was effective in preventing influenza types A and B within households where the index patient was not treated...

..There was no evidence of a significant increase in adverse pulmonary outcomes for CAIV-T compared with TIV. CAIV-T had a significantly greater relative efficacy of 35% compared with TIV in this high-risk population...