Latest healthcare news

When did SARS-CoV-2 become established in Europe and North America? An interesting study by Worobey and others published in Science 10 September 2020 looks at the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 virus in both Europe and North America.  They conclude that rapid early...

Sex Differences in the Immune Response to COVID-19 Why do men appear to suffer differently to women when exposed to SARS-CoV-2? Why are men more likely to be hospitalised and die? An interesting article by Dr Takehiro Takahashi and others published in Nature 26...

Did Closing Down Schools Decrease COVID-19 Incidence and Mortality? An interesting article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA, published online July 29, 2020, reviewed the association between school closure and the reduction of spread of...

Neurological and Mental Health Screening There are currently no validated screening pathways to assess brain and mental health. The increasing stress of modern day living compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in more patients presenting with neurological...

Gynaecological Screening Guidelines Cancer of the Cervix Cervical cancer starts in the cells lining the cervix - the lower part of the uterus. The cervix connects the body of the uterus (the upper part where a foetus grows) to the vagina. Cancer starts when cells in...

COVID-19-Related Stroke in Young Individuals Evidence is mounting on the diverse neurological presentations associated with COVID-19.  This is highlighted in a comment by Dr Johanna Fifi from Mount Sinai in The Lancet.  It is known that SARS-CoV-2 causes...

Diabetes, Metformin and COVID-19 Dr Andrew Crouse and others conducted a retrospective electronic health record analysis of 25,326 patients who were tested positive for COVID-19 between 25 February and 22 June 2020 in the Birmingham Hospital at the University of...

Air Travel in the Time of COVID-19 An interesting editorial in The Lancet Infectious Diseases discusses the implications of this. The COVID-19 pandemic is changing the way we think about travelling. Most countries in the world have adopted some measures of lockdown or...

Breast Cancer Screening It is important to understand that most breast lumps are benign and are not cancer.  Breast cancer cells usually form a tumour that can often be seen on an x-ray or felt as a lump.  Breast cancer occurs almost entirely in women but...

COVID and Reinfection The question is, can a patient who has had COVID be re-infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus? The press recently have documented that there appears to have been a case of reinfection in Hong Kong during August.  Is this the case?  What are...