Public health news: November 2006

Fruit & vegetable scheme for poor

25 November 2006

Women who are under 18 or on income support, and who are pregnant or have children under the age of 4, will be entitled to Government help with buying fruit, vegetables, infant formula milk and vitamins.  The fruit and veg entitlements range from £2.80 per week where the woman is pregnant or has children between 1-4 years old, to £5.60 for each child under 1.  The Healthy Start scheme uses vouchers which are redeemable for fruit, vegetables or milk at supermarkets, with separate vouchers for vitamin supplements.

Healthy Start  (NHS, November 2006)
Poor families given fruit and veg  ((BBC News, November 2006)
Health promotion  (Internal link)

Junk food advertising ban proposed

17 November 2006

Ofcom, the UK media regulator has today proposed a ban on advertising 'high fat, salt and sugar' (HFSS) foods during television programmes aimed at audiences aged 16 or under, regardless of the time of day.  Additionally, a proscription of advertising of free promotional gifts with such food is proposed.  A consultation period runs until mid-December, with scheduling prohibitions due to come into force in March 2007.

New restrictions on the TV advertising of food and drink products to children (Ofcom, November 2006)
Television advertising of food and drink products to children - statement and further consultation (Ofcom, November 2006)
Junk food ad crackdown announced  (B(BBC News, November 2006)

H5N1 adapting better to humans?

16 November 2006

Yamada et al report in this week's Nature that there is evidence the avian influenza virus (H5N1) isolated from some humans with the disease is starting to adapt better to its new host.  Some human isolates of H5N1 showed mutations in the receptor-binding haemagglutinin (HA) molecule which are not present in the virus which currently affects poultry.  Interestingly, such mutations were also seen in the previous pandemics of the 20th century, although the researchers postulate that a number of further mutations are likely to be required for the H5N1 virus to become fully adapted to humans, and cause a pandemic.

Yamada S, et al. Nature doi:10.1038/nature05264 [?] ] (Nature, November 2006)
Flu pandemic planning  (Internal link)

Legionnaires cases above average in UK

9 November 2006

The rate of cases of Legionnaires' disease in the UK this year so far is nearly double that experienced in the same period of 2005, although there is no suggestion of a national outbreak.

National increase in cases of legionnaires' disease - update (CDR, November 2006)
Health protection  (Internal link)

TB cases continue to rise

2 November 2006

New cases of tuberculosis in the UK have risen by over 10% in the last year according to the Health Protection Agency.  The incidence in 2005 was 8,113 cases, of which over 5,000 were in individuals who were not born in the UK, reflecting the extremely high disease burden elsewhere in the world.  There have recently been fears that some forms of TB in the developing world have become resistant to even second- and third-line drugs - so-called XDR-TB.

Sharp rise in tuberculosis cases(BBC News, November 2006)
Cases of tuberculosis rise steeply during 2005 (HPA, November 2006)
XDR TB uncovered  (Internal link, September 2006)
Health protection  (Internal link)
International and global public health  (Internal link)