click here to read more

Tamiflu is an antiviral drug that can alleviate and help shorten the symptoms of flu.

This is the drug chosen by the government and WHO (World Health Organisation). Various governments are currently stockpiling Tamiflu for key workers as protection for bird flu.

Tamiflu Dosage

Adults 2 x 75mg capsules per day for 5 days ie 10 capsules

Adults and children over 40kgs or 13 yrs+ must start to take the course within 48hrs of flu symptoms

Children Powdered suspension for children 15kg+

Tamiflu is not indicated for treatment of influenza in paediatric patients younger than 1 year.
Child must be older than 12 months (Dosage depends on weight – see chart below).

The recommended oral dose of TAMIFLU oral suspension for paediatric patients 1 year and older or adult patients who cannot swallow a capsule is:

What is it used for?
- Prevention of flu (influenza) in adults and adolescents aged 13 years and over who have been in contact with someone diagnosed with flu when it is circulating in the community
- Treatment of flu (influenza) in adults and children over one year of age when the influenza virus is circulating in the community

How should Tamiflu be used?
To provide any benefit, Tamiflu must be started within two days of the onset of symptoms, or exposure to the flu. If you have the flu, continue taking it twice daily for 5 days, even if you start to feel better. To prevent the flu, take it once a day for at least 7 days. Protection lasts as long as you take the drug. The capsules have an expiry date of 2010 and can be used up to that time.

How does Tamiflu work?
This medicine contains the active ingredient oseltamivir phosphate, which is a type of medicine called a neuraminidase inhibitor. It is used to treat and prevent infection with the influenza virus (flu).
Flu is caused by a highly contagious virus which affects the respiratory system. The virus is passed from one person to another by coughing and sneezing. When the virus enters the body it invades cells, where it replicates to form lots of new virus particles.
These new copies of the virus are then released from the cells and move on to infect adjoining cells, where the process is repeated. After a couple of days a sufficient number of cells have been infected so that the patient feels flu symptoms such as headache, fever and general aches and pains, which continue for about a week until the body´s immune system kills the virus.
In order to leave one cell and infect another, the flu virus uses a chemical helper that is found on its surface. This substance is an enzyme called neuraminidase. Tamiflu works by binding to the enzyme and stopping the release. This prevents the flu virus from spreading and infecting other cells.
Tamiflu therefore confines the infection to a smaller area. This makes the symptoms of the infection less severe and also makes it is easier for the body´s immune system to kill the virus.

Tamiflu is only effective against the influenza virus. It will not work against illnesses that are caused by other agents

Warning and Caution
• This medicine is not recommended for people with severely decreased kidney function.
• The safety and efficacy of this medicine for treating influenza in children under one year of age has not been established. In addition, the safety and efficacy of this medicine for preventing influenza in children aged 12 years and under has not been established.
• Our clinic recommends that flu vaccinations should be given and that Tamiflu is not an alternative to the common flu vaccination.

Liquid Suspension
If Tamiflu upsets your stomach, try taking it with food. Shake the liquid
suspension before each use.

Pregnancy and Tamiflu and Flu Vaccines
There are no controlled studies in women available. Drugs should be given only if the potential benefit justifies the potential risk to the foetus. Consultation with the clinic or GP is necessary

Post Vaccination
The most common side effects are coughing, dizziness, headache, difficulty sleeping, nausea and vomiting. Talk to your doctor if you experience any of the following uncommon side effects: difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, skin rash, infection and inflammation of the sinuses and chest.

How can this medicine affect other medicines?
The manufacturer of this medicine states that it should be used with caution in people who are taking the following medicines: chlorpropamide, methotrexate, phenylbutazone

Tamiflu can be taken at the same time as paracetamol, ibuprofen or aspirin. It is unlikely that this medicine will interact with other medicines. However you should tell us what medicines you are using.

When you miss a dose
Take it as soon as possible. If it is within two hours of your next dose, skip the missed dose and go back to your regular schedule.

Flu Vaccinations (manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur and GSK)
We offer paediatric flu vaccines to children (the NHS will give these free to children with asthma). 6-35 months 2 doses 6 weeks apart.

Healthcare Commission and Complaints
We have been inspected and have our registration from the HcC (Formerly NCSC), Should you have any complaints about conduct or service, please contact us first on 0870 161 0007/0009 and we will respond to you within 2 days (you can also request our complaints policy by telephone or from www.childrensimmunisation.com) We welcome any suggestions that may help us improve our service. If you wish to contact the HcC, their number is 020 74489200. A summary of the inspection report will also be available from HcC at Peter House, Oxford Street, Manchester M1 5AX.

The worst measles epidemic in 40 years could hit Britain this winter and experts blame the crisis on parents failing to vaccinate their children with the MMR jab.

click here to read more

Experts from the Health Protection Agency (HPA), the Government´s
public health watchdog, said that London is at imminent risk of a
severe measles outbreak.

Analysis suggests that a national epidemic will follow within the next
two years as rates of infection reach critical levels. As many as 12 per
cent of children and 20 per cent of adults could be taken to hospital
because of lower natural immunity.

Latest MMR figures, released last month by the Department of
Health, showed uptake of the combination vaccine among two-yearolds
fell by 2 per cent in the 12 months to April, to a low of 80 per
cent. The HPA has analysed data on MMR coverage, measles
epidemiology and population levels of immunity amid growing
concerns that the jab is being shunned.

As a result, the agency predicted that an epidemic of the infection
could occur at any time and affect thousands of children. The latest
figures on MMR uptake are a drop of 12 per cent on the peak of 92
per cent coverage seen in 1995-96, before research claimed that the
MMR jab was linked to autism. The research by Dr Andrew
Wakefield, published in The Lancet in 1998, has since been
discredited, although many parents remain concerned.

The latest large-scale study, published last month in the same
medical journal, concluded that there was no evidence to support a
link between the combined vaccine and autism in children. But
confidence in the jab remains low — well below the 95 per cent
recommended by the World Health Organisation — despite the efforts
of health officials to reassure the public.

London has one of the lowest uptakes of MMR at 70 per cent, falling
to 62 per cent in southeast London and 69 per cent in northwest
London.

Using their data, the HPA calculated that the “reproduction number”
— the number of infections resulting from each case — had already
reached the critical watermark of 1.0 in London. They said it would do
so in the rest from the UK from 2005-06.

Mary Ramsay, consultant epidemiologist at the HPA, said: “We´re
predicting an epidemic from this, and many places in London are
already at a point where an epidemic can occur.”

Reporting the HPA´s concerns, Pulse, the medical publication, said
that poor immunity meant an average of 15 per cent of children and
adults would be admitted to hospital if infected by measles. As well as
having a rash, people with measles can suffer serious complications
such as meningitis and pneumonia. It is more common for eyes and
ears to develop a secondary infection needing antibiotics.

Infectious disease experts believe that London alone has 350,000
susceptible youngsters under 16 and could face an epidemic of many
thousands of cases. The HPA is working with public health officials in
London to formulate an emergency plan to stop measles spreading.
Some parts of London have already seen outbreaks of the infection.

Before vaccination started in the late 1960s, Britain had about
800,000 cases and 100 deaths a year from measles.

Vaccination rates rose from about 50 per cent in 1968 to 76 per cent
in 1988. These had led to a steady decline in measles cases. The
introduction of MMR in 1988 caused a further increase in the
vaccination rate. This wiped out measles as an endemic disease. But
people continued to bring the virus into Britain from abroad, causing
small outbreaks.

There were 71 measles cases in 2001 and 308 in 2002. The largest
outbreak affected about 100 people. Phil Johnson, editor of Pulse,
said: “GPs have been warning for years that the continued fall in
MMR uptake would have dire consequences for patients. It looks like
those predictions will be proven correct. A measles epidemic was as
predictable as its consequences for patients and health professionals
will be serious.”

Graham Fraser, HPA regional epidemiologist for London, said: “We
are aware that for several years the number of children in London
susceptible to measles have been steadily increasing, and we are
concerned about the increased risk of an epidemic. We are working
closely with the directors of public health in London and the
Department of Health to plan a response to tackle this situation.”

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: “There is no measles
epidemic in the UK — so far this year the cases of measles are less
than they were last year. Coverage of the MMR vaccine has risen in
three out of the last four; however, we recognise that overall coverage
is lower than ideal and this leaves a concerning vulnerability. We
encourage parents to vaccinate their children with MMR as the safest
form of protection from the disease.”

click for the article

Fears over the Government´s controversial new 5-in-1 children´s vaccine has prompted a surge in appointments at a Manchester clinic which offers single vaccine alternatives to the triple MMR jab.

click here to read more

Yes, it is welcome that the use of mercury in vaccines is being scrapped.
Concerns that it might cause autism surfaced five years ago, and it has been phased out in America, Japan and much of Europe. But Britain has so far dragged its feet, perhaps because mercury-free vaccines are more expensive. Even now, astonishingly, the new jab won´t be generally available for at least six weeks.

So what are parents supposed to do? Allow their babies to be injected with
the present vaccine which might – just might – carry some risk, however
remote? Or refuse until the new version is available?

That isn´t the end of it. Under the new system, five vaccines will be
administered at the same time, instead of four. But there are already
suggestions that such multiple ´cocktails´ can create problems.
Most scientists, it has to be said, don´t share those doubts. They insist the
new vaccine is safe. In ordinary circumstances, such assurances would be
enough.

Sadly, the public is no longer inclined to take anything on trust. Consider what happened over MMR. Dr Andrew Wakefield, the researcher who raised doubts about the triple jab, was ruthlessly hounded out of his job. Meanwhile, a bullying Government flatly refuses to allow worried parents the choice of single injections. And while Ministers move heaven and earth to impose MMR, the Blairs won´t say if it has been given to their son Leo.

But then, the vaccination issue always seems to reveal this administration at its worst. After all, didn´t this Prime Minister allow Labour donor Paul Drayson to make £20 million out of a Government contract for smallpox vaccine (while competitors hardly got a look-in) and hand him a peerage into the bargain?

Now we are seeing the results of the years of cronyism, sleaze and
mendacious spin. This latest imbroglio isn´t simply about the ways babies are inoculated.

Wouldn´t it be more accurate to describe it as another symptom of the way New Labour has undermined faith in the integrity of public life?

Core values

One thing can be almost guaranteed about Michael Howard´s speech this
week stressing discipline, responsibility, respect and the importance of a
father´s influence in bringing up boys. Our right-on, politically correct, liberal establishment will greet it with disdain.

But it will strike a chord with the millions whose lives are blighted by yobbery, drunkenness and the steady coarsening of a society mired in the culture of compensation and ´rights´.

Their misery won´t be assuaged by the seemingly endless crackdowns on
anti-social behaviour, especially when our feeble courts are so reluctant to
enforce the law properly.

No, there has to be a fundamental change in attitudes. Mr Howard is
undoubtedly right to argue that such change must begin within the family and at school. For years, it has been fashionably – and patronisingly – assumed that the ´causes of crime´ are poverty and inequality. But since Britain today is wealthier and more egalitarian than ever, isn´t it more likely that the roots of the problem lie in the collapse of values once taken for granted?

Mr Howard´s speech should ignite a debate that has been stifled for too long.

This story first appeared in the Daily Mail. For more great stories like this, buy the Daily Mail every day.

click to read the article

Angry parents of children allegedly damaged by the MMR jab yesterday accused a drug company of trying to bully them into dropping legal action.

click here to read more

click here to read more

click here to read more