1 - Can I have some help, as a GP (family doctor) according to Public Health and NICE, I should be able to know when to "consider prescribing antiviral medicines for patients if they are at risk of severe illness and/or complications from influenza if not treated,
(and here is the difficult part:
"whether or not they are in a ‘clinical at risk group’."
Do I correctly understand that they want me to develop clearvoyance?
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-protection-report-volume-10-2016/hpr-volume-10-issue-1-news-8-january?#seasonal-flu-increasing-in-the-uk
2 - Can anybody elaborate what Cochrane means by "only a small, but significant, clinical benefit in patients with mild illness in the community" - as suggested in the same letter from Professor Dame Sally C Davies Chief Medical Officer and Dr Keith Ridge CBE Chief Pharmaceutical Officer - and whether that benefit is for all the age groups mentioned in their letter?
3 - Apparently Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 is currently the dominant circulating strain - it would be interesting to know whether that strain was part of this year's "flu shot" and if so whether, apart from making antibodies, it is actually are not effective?
(similar to this surprising outcome of a stafylococcus vaccine http://www.jwatch.org/id201304100000001/2013/04/10/surprising-outcome-staph-vaccine-trial )
4 - and why only prescribe "seasonally"?
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