Latest healthcare news

Covid-19 Immunity The World Health Organisation has said that there is no evidence that people who have recovered from a coronavirus have immunity to the disease.  They have, however, said that the antibody tests will be able to measure the level of...

How can we get our population back to work? What do our policy makers in Government need to know about the COVID-19 immunity? A third of the world is still under lockdown as public health measures have been used to reduce the spread of COVID-19 caused by the...

WHY DO PEOPLE DIE OF COVID-19 AND WHAT ROLE DOES SUGAR PLAY? Many of the people dying in the COVID-19 pandemic are harmed by their own immune system rather than by the virus itself.  The infection triggers a cytokine storm – a surge in cell signalling proteins...

An interesting article in The Lancet Public Health journal published April 23, 2020 discussed the pitfalls of judgement during the COVID-19 pandemic.  The author, Donald A Redelmeier, suggested that there were pitfalls, which if one was aware of might help to...

Coronavirus: How we're protecting you when you come into The London General Practice. We've been very fortunate here at The London General Practice to have been able to stay open throughout this period and see patients for face to face Consultations. In order to do...

ASTHMA and COVID-19 For people with asthma, ensure that your asthma is as stable as possible.  This means taking your inhaled steroids and other routine medications regularly as prescribed.  Having a relieving inhaler is also important if your asthma...

Loss of Taste and Loss of Smell Early and accurate diagnosis of COVID-19 infection is paramount. Clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 is complicated as patients present with an influenza like illness.  The definitive diagnosis relies on a positive PCR swab from the...

Non-pharmaceutical Interventions Against Coronavirus Disease, Do They Work?  What Evidence is There? A study performed in Hong Kong looked at the use of aggressive public health measures including massive mobility restrictions, universal fever screenings in all...

Coronavirus Lockdown – The Way Forward A proposal in the Lancet Journal by Julian Dopito of The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine:  We as a population are being offered alternating periods of lockdown and relaxation of restrictions during this...

Wearing Facemasks The WHO has shown inconsistency in their initial guidance on whether these should be worn.  In January 2020 the WHO did not recommend the mass wearing of masks in healthy individuals within the community as a way to prevent infection of...

COVID TESTING AND THE UNDERSTANDING OF IMMUNITY AND THE RESULTS Let us start with the basics. SensitivityThis is the ability of the test to detect the immune protection.  If 100 patients have immunity and the test is positive in 90 of them, then it has a 90%...

COVID-19 TESTING Rapid near patient testing for both current and past infection is urgently required. Test, test, test was the mantra of the World Health Organisation and is the key to controlling the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and its clinical manifestation COVID-19....

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses capable of causing infection ranging from a common cold to severe respiratory conditions.  The most recently discovered coronavirus is COVID-19. The current guidance from Public Health England suggests that most people...

There are more than 200 different types of cancer that can cause many different symptoms.  Knowing what is normal for your body means you are more likely to recognise new symptoms.  Detecting cancer at an early stage can save lives. Self-checks including...