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There was significant variation between regions, but Australia and New Zealand came out on top (with 42 new cases in males and 31 cases in females per 100 000 person-years). The good […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>A <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamadermatology/article-abstract/2790344"><strong>global analysis of melanoma cases</strong></a> suggests the burden of melanoma could double by 2040 and deaths could increase by almost 70 per cent. There was significant variation between regions, but Australia and New Zealand came out on top (with 42 new cases in males and 31 cases in females per 100 000 person-years).<br><br>The good news is that the Melanoma Institute Australia released what they say is a <a href="https://melanoma.org.au/news/state-of-the-nation/"><strong>landmark report</strong></a> providing a roadmap to zero deaths from melanoma in the country. Many of their recommendations will involve General Practice such as:</p> <ul><li>Long-term investment in a national prevention and early detection awareness strategy</li><li>Improved sun-safety in secondary schools and on sporting fields</li><li>Maintenance of melanoma clinical guidelines through a peak national body</li><li>Development of evidence for a national targeted population screening program for melanoma</li><li>Investment in GP training and development of a clinical standard of care for melanoma</li><li>Increased supply of and access to professionals trained in skin checks</li><li>Development of a model of care for melanoma survivors</li><li>Funding for a national melanoma nurse support service.</li></ul> <p>Rates in Australia are continuing to rise among over-50s while they decline amongst people in their 20s, 30s and 40s, which <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/mar/31/global-melanoma-rate-to-increase-by-50-by-2040-researchers-predict"><strong>one of the study’s authors suggests</strong></a> could be attributed to public health campaigns like Slip-Slop-Slap introduced in 1981.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80387</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Encephalopathy Linked to Repetitive Head Injury</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/encephalopathy-linked-to-head-injury/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 19 May 2022 23:46:19 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[brain]]></category> <category><![CDATA[memory loss]]></category> <category><![CDATA[trauma]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80385</guid> <description><![CDATA[The Australian Sports Brain Bank (ASBB) researches chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) – a type of brain injury caused by repetitive head traumas. It’s now been running for three years and has released findings on 21 sportspeople who donated their brains to the organisation for research. All donors had played in sports with a risk of […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>The Australian Sports Brain Bank (ASBB) researches chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) – a type of brain injury caused by repetitive head traumas. It’s now been running for three years and has<a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2022/216/10/chronic-traumatic-encephalopathy-australia-first-three-years-australian-sports"> <strong>released findings on 21 sportspeople who donated their brains to the organisation for research</strong></a>.</p> <p>All donors had played in sports with a risk of repetitive head injury, usually a football code. The ASBB found all but one donor had some form of neurodegeneration, and most had at least two different kinds of brain injury.</p> <p>CTE was most often detected in the brains of people who had played professionally, but was also found in non-professional players, including younger ones.<br><br>Other research has found even small repeated head injuries (like heading a soccer ball) <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31985774/"><strong>was linked to poorer verbal memory in amateur players</strong></a>. It all points to parents in particular being aware of the risks of head trauma if their child is playing a high-risk sport. It’s also important that coaches follow concussion protocols</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80385</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Significant Harm Linked to Vaping</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/significant-harm-linked-vaping/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 19 May 2022 05:32:41 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[smoking]]></category> <category><![CDATA[vaping]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80317</guid> <description><![CDATA[Vaping has been controversial over the past decade with arguments about its potential harms or benefits. Proponents argue it’s a less harmful alternative to smoking cigarettes, while detractors warn it could act as a gateway for young people into tobacco smoking. Now a major review of the evidence coming out of the Australian National University […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Vaping has been controversial over the past decade with arguments about its potential harms or benefits. Proponents argue it’s a less harmful alternative to smoking cigarettes, while detractors warn it could act as a gateway for young people into tobacco smoking.</p> <p><br>Now a <a href="https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/262914">major review of the evidence coming out of the Australian National University</a> has found that e-cigarettes do pose significant harms, among them the risk of lung injury, burns, seizures and the increased probability of taking up cigarette smoking.</p> <p><br>The review also found that changes in the technology used by e-cigarettes or ‘vapes’ mean that users may be growing more dependent over time. Users of ‘fourth generation’ cartridge and pod style vapes (often single-use and disposable) typically had a higher dependence score than earlier forms of vaping technology (such as the first generation ‘cigalike’ devices).<br></p> <ul><li><em>National and state data from patient reports and product sample testing show tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-containing e-cigarette, or vaping, products, particularly from informal sources like friends, family, or in-person or online dealers, are linked to most EVALI cases and play a major role in the outbreak.</em></li><li><em>Vitamin E acetate is strongly linked to the EVALI outbreak. Vitamin E acetate has been found in product samples tested by FDA and state laboratories and in patient lung fluid samples tested by CDC from geographically diverse states. Vitamin E acetate has not been found in the lung fluid of people that do not have EVALI.</em></li><li><em>Evidence is not sufficient to rule out the contribution of other chemicals of concern, including chemicals in either THC or non-THC products, in some of the reported EVALI cases.</em></li></ul> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80317</post-id> </item> <item> <title>A New Medication for Alzheimer’s Disease?</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/alzheimers-disease-new-medication/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 19 May 2022 05:09:39 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[alzheimer's disease]]></category> <category><![CDATA[dementia]]></category> <category><![CDATA[medication]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80310</guid> <description><![CDATA[Aducanumab is a medication designed to treat Alzheimer’s disease developed by Biogen. It’s a monoclonal antibody designed to remove amyloid – one of the two proteins that gum up the nerves in the brains of people with the condition. Aducanumab has proven controversial in the United States, where the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decision […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Aducanumab is a medication designed to treat Alzheimer’s disease developed by Biogen. It’s a monoclonal antibody designed to remove amyloid – one of the two proteins that gum up the nerves in the brains of people with the condition. Aducanumab has proven controversial in the United States, where the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decision to approve the drug for use led to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/10/health/aduhelm-fda-resign-alzheimers.html"><strong>the resignation of three FDA advisers</strong></a>. Despite the approval, UA Medicare has refused to pay for Aducanumab prescriptions unless a person is on a trial.</p> <p>The conflict centres around the quality of the evidence supporting the effectiveness of the drug, with Phase III studies (the EMERGE and ENGAGE trials) returning mixed results.</p> <p>The Therapeutic Goods Administration is currently reviewing whether the drug should be approved for use in Australia but that may change by the time you read this as even the manufacturer is having second thoughts about the drug. In a piece <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.5694/mja2.51408"><strong>published in the Medical Journal of Australia</strong></a>, researchers from the Melbourne Dementia Research Centre and Concord Hospital argue there are significant concerns over the drug’s efficacy and benefits.</p> <p>One trial (EMERGE) did find a benefit of Aducanumab over the placebo in slowing clinical scores indicating Alzheimer’s decline when given at high doses, but the size of the effect was small, and in the other study (ENGAGE) no effect was seen. What’s more, these findings were only made during a secondary analysis of the data after the trials had been discontinued due to futility (external assessors judged that people in the trial weren’t seeing any benefit – the drugs weren’t having an effect). There were also side effects such as brain swelling and small bleeds.</p> <p>The MJA article argues that adequate effectiveness of the drug hasn’t yet been demonstrated, and if the positive findings could be replicated, approval still wouldn’t be cost-effective.</p> <p>This calls into question treatment strategies for dementia but the reality is that dementia research has come a long way and there are interventions which do seem to work in prevention and management of early cognitive decline.</p> <p><strong>Early Signs of dementia should not be swept to one side – find out for yourself</strong></p> <p><strong>Tonic Media Network recently hosted a high impact webinar for GPs and General Practices about the importance of early diagnosis of dementia and the interventions that can make a difference. You can see the webinar – and we strongly encourage you to do so by going to this <a href="https://tonichealthmedia.createsend1.com/t/d-i-fjtjduy-l-r/">link</a>. The webinar was sponsored by Dementia Australia and has been very well received.</strong></p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80310</post-id> </item> <item> <title>COVID Update – General Practice Could Be Life-saving</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/covid-update/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 19 May 2022 05:01:06 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[coronavirus (COVID-19)]]></category> <category><![CDATA[covid-19]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Covid-19 vaccine]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Long Covid]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80303</guid> <description><![CDATA[At the time of writing, Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are thought to be taking over in Australia. As they are more contagious, we are seeing a significant wave of infections such that Australia has one of the highest infection rates in the world.  While we are reaping the benefits of high vaccination rates with […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>At the time of writing, Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are thought to be taking over in Australia. As they are more contagious, we are seeing a significant wave of infections such that Australia has one of the highest infection rates in the world. </p> <p>While we are reaping the benefits of high vaccination rates with lower risks of hospitalisation and deaths, we are nonetheless seeing high absolute numbers of deaths at an average of around 40 per day which amounts to a Boeing 737 jet crash every week. </p> <p>We don’t know much about these people and how they’ve been managed, but in theory this death rate could be cut drastically if COVID antivirals were given to as many eligible patients as possible, promptly after symptoms arise.</p> <h4 id="h-good-news-about-long-covid"><strong>Good news about Long COVID</strong></h4> <p>Data from the UK Office of National Statistics has shown that in people who are triple vaccinated the risk of prolonged COVID symptoms after four weeks drops from around 30% to 9%. But when here are a lot of infections, that still amounts to many people. In the UK, this equates to nearly 2 million and around 6% say it’s significantly affecting their lives.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80303</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Practice Connect – April 2022</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/practice-connect-april-2022/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2022 07:13:41 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[practice connect]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80255</guid> <description><![CDATA[Welcome to another edition of Practice Connect, where Tonic Media Network provides topical news and information for you and your patients.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Welcome to another edition of Practice Connect, where Tonic Media Network provides topical news and information for you and your patients.</p> <div class="wp-block-file aligncenter"><object class="wp-block-file__embed" data="https://www.mydr.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Practice-Connect-April-2022.pdf" type="application/pdf" style="width:100%;height:600px" aria-label="Embed of Practice Connect - April 2022."></object><a href="https://www.mydr.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Practice-Connect-April-2022.pdf">Practice Connect – April 2022</a><a href="https://www.mydr.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Practice-Connect-April-2022.pdf" class="wp-block-file__button" download>Download</a></div> <p></p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80255</post-id> </item> <item> <title>COVID and children. What should parents do if their child gets the virus?</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/covid-and-children-what-should-parents-do-if-their-child-gets-the-virus/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2022 05:56:59 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[children immunisation]]></category> <category><![CDATA[childrens health]]></category> <category><![CDATA[coronavirus (COVID-19)]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Covid-19 Vaccines]]></category> <category><![CDATA[effects of Covid on children]]></category> <category><![CDATA[parenthood]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80258</guid> <description><![CDATA[Paediatrician, Associate Professor Margie Danchin provides expert advice. Recently the New South Wales Coroner confirmed that COVID-19 was responsible for the death of a 2-month-old baby back in December 2021. This news comes after the death of a previously healthy 2-year-old in mid-March 2022. It’s understood the baby is Australia’s youngest COVID victim and while […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Paediatrician, Associate Professor Margie Danchin provides expert advice.</p> <p>Recently the New South Wales Coroner confirmed that COVID-19 was responsible for the death of a 2-month-old baby back in December 2021. This news comes after the death of a previously healthy 2-year-old in mid-March 2022. It’s understood the baby is Australia’s youngest COVID victim and while death and serious illness are rare among children, parents want to know what they should do if their child gets the virus.</p> <p>Associate Professor Margie Danchin is a Paediatrician specialising in immunisation at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.</p> <h4 id="h-have-we-underestimated-the-impact-of-the-virus-on-children"><strong>Have we underestimated the impact of the virus on children?</strong></h4> <p>We know that most children in fact, do experience either very mild symptoms or even asymptomatic infection, but severe disease does still happen in children. And they may need admission to hospital, and some can become severely unwell, especially if they have certain underlying medical conditions. We do need to be aware that COVID can be severe in children and we need to focus on getting eligible children vaccinated.</p> <h4><strong>Are we vaccinating at a high enough rate in the five to 11 age group?</strong></h4> <p>Vaccination coverage in the primary school age children, for one dose is around 56/57% nationally and about 12% for two doses. So, we’ve got a long way to go in terms of the coverage that we’ve achieved in the adult population. For 16-year-olds and over, it’s now 95% for two doses. But having said that, internationally, we’re doing very well. We’re on par with Canada and countries like the USA and the UK are far behind our coverage here in Australia.</p> <h4><strong>But that’s cold comfort if kids are going to get infected. What about the vaccine safety profile in kids?</strong></h4> <p>The safety profile is excellent in primary school age children. The common and expected side effects occur less frequently than in teenagers and young adults, and we have not seen a vaccine safety signal for myocarditis or inflammation of the heart, which we were concerned about having seen that after the second dose in teenagers, particularly young men. We have not seen that in primary school age children and in fact, the risk of myocarditis is one tenth that of the teenage age group. So that’s good news for parents.</p> <h4><strong>It’s going to be a while before we have vaccines available for the under fives and yet we’ve got such a surge on with many thousands of cases in Australia. What can parents do to protect their younger children, if anything?</strong></h4> <p>That’s right. The under fives don’t yet have a vaccine available, although we do hope that will happen in the next three to six months and we’ve seen a recent announcement from Moderna seeking approval in the FDA for the under sixers. So hopefully a vaccine is on the horizon, but in terms of parents caring for younger children, the most important thing is to make sure that children are drinking enough, that we keep up their fluids, that we use Panadol or Nurofen to treat any fever and that they get lots of rest and sleep.<br>And importantly, we really need to look out for any more serious signs of infection, which is usually listlessness, difficulty breathing, very high fever. Those children need to see a doctor and potentially go to hospital for further treatment.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80258</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Additional COVID-19 vaccine now recommended for vulnerable Australians</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/additional-covid-19-vaccine-now-recommended-for-vulnerable-australians/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2022 05:56:45 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Booster shots to covid vaccines]]></category> <category><![CDATA[coronavirus (COVID-19)]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Covid-19 Vaccines]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80262</guid> <description><![CDATA[Some Australians can receive their fourth — and in some cases, their fifth dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. In Australia, since Omicron has appeared there have been several waves of COVID infections, hospitalisations and deaths. Depending on what happens with variants this could get worse during the winter months. New subvariants of Omicron are appearing […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Some Australians can receive their fourth — and in some cases, their fifth dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.</p> <p>In Australia, since Omicron has appeared there have been several waves of COVID infections, hospitalisations and deaths. Depending on what happens with variants this could get worse during the winter months.</p> <p>New subvariants of Omicron are appearing regularly, and the latest at the time of writing being BA 4 which is thought to have arisen in someone infected at the same time from BA 1 and BA 3 where the viruses exchanged genes. BA 4 is not thought to be more contagious or dangerous than BA 1 or 2. </p> <p><a href="https://www.health.gov.au/news/atagi-statement-on-recommendations-on-a-winter-booster-dose-of-covid-19-vaccine" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) has recommended a winter booster jab</a> for the most vulnerable Australians. People aged over 65, those who are immunocompromised and Indigenous Australians over 50’s, are encouraged to receive the booster four to six months after they have had their third shot, based on medical advice. People who live in aged care or disability care facilities and people aged 16 and over who have been deemed severely immunocompromised are also eligible.</p> <p>Vaccines are going to continue playing the key role. At the time of writing, 86% of Australians had received their 1st vaccine dose; 82% their second dose; and almost 50% their third dose.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80262</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Influenza could be bad this year. What does it mean for your practice?</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/influenza-could-be-bad-this-year-what-does-it-mean-for-your-practice/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2022 05:56:29 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[coronavirus (COVID-19)]]></category> <category><![CDATA[influenza]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Influenza immunisation]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80265</guid> <description><![CDATA[Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly has recently warned Australia is likely to see an increase in flu cases this winter and has encouraged people to get the flu injection. This comes at a busy time for many practices as you are also trying to administer the additional COVID-19 vaccine to vulnerable people and keep on […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly has recently warned Australia is likely to see an increase in flu cases this winter and has encouraged people to get the flu injection.</p> <p>This comes at a busy time for many practices as you are also trying to administer the additional COVID-19 vaccine to vulnerable people and keep on top of business as usual activities.</p> <p>Over the past two years, flu infection rates have been low in the community due to border closures, lockdowns and social distancing rules. </p> <p>We haven’t had much circulating flu for us to be naturally boosted and a greater proportion of people haven’t had a flu vaccine, leading to waned immunity. It is estimated that Australia has an under vaccinated population of between 20% – 30% due to the pandemic.</p> <p>There are concerns cases will jump in coming months, along with an increase in COVID-19 cases. </p> <p>In additional to the vulnerable populations, experts also believe that we may have to keep a close eye on young children this winter who may not have had exposure to the flu or received a flu injection. This cohort could be at increased risk of contracting flu and become very unwell.</p> <h4><strong>Testing for COVID-19 and the flu </strong></h4> <p>Work is underway to try and devise a single test that would check if a person has COVID-19 or the flu at the same time. Deputy Chief Medical Officer Sonya Bennett said it would help provide faster diagnosis and care. </p> <p>“We are hoping that will be in place during winter, it might not be in place at the beginning of winter, but certainly I would expect we would be seeing multiplex testing in hospitals and for those at risk by mid-winter,” she said. </p> <h4 id="h-could-we-see-flurona"><strong>Could we see ‘flurona’</strong>?</h4> <p>We may also see dual infections – when someone has COVID and influenza at the same time – sometimes dubbed “flurona”.</p> <p>While this has occurred, the rates of dual infections globally have been low based on the limited research. Generally, <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2021.681469/full">under 1% of people</a> with COVID also have influenza at the same time. Even with dual infections, people do not seem to be sicker than if they had COVID alone. Although the importance of such co-infection, especially in high-risk individuals and the elderly, cannot be ignored.</p> <h4><strong>Useful Resources</strong><strong></strong></h4> <p>Thanks to our friends at Cubiko, below are some additional resources that your practice may wish to access regarding preparing for flu season:</p> <ul><li><strong><a href="https://www.racgp.org.au/download/Documents/Guidelines/Flukit/pandemic-flu-kit.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RACGP Pandemic Influenza Toolkit</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/infectioncontrol/healthcaresettings.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Prevention Strategies for Influenza in Healthcare</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.racgp.org.au/running-a-practice/practice-standards/standards-5th-edition/infection-prevention-and-control" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Infection Control</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.racgp.org.au/FSDEDEV/media/documents/Running%20a%20practice/Practice%20standards/5th%20edition/Cold-chain-management.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cold Chain Management</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/national-vaccine-storage-guidelines-strive-for-5" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Vaccine Storage Guidelines ‘Strive for 5’</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.health.gov.au/initiatives-and-programs/covid-19-vaccines/is-it-true/is-it-true-do-i-have-to-wait-between-getting-the-influenza-flu-and-covid-19-vaccine" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Administering COVID-19 and Influenza Same Day</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.cubiko.com.au/blog/how-cubiko-helps-you-deliver-the-flu-vaccines/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cubiko blog: How Cubiko helps you deliver the flu vaccine</a></strong></li></ul> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80265</post-id> </item> </channel> </rss> ' status_code => (int) 200 redirects => (int) 0 error => null method => (int) 9 } $locate = object(SimplePie_Locator) { useragent => 'SimplePie/1.2.1-dev (Feed Parser; 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There was significant variation between regions, but Australia and New Zealand came out on top (with 42 new cases in males and 31 cases in females per 100 000 person-years). The good […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>A <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamadermatology/article-abstract/2790344"><strong>global analysis of melanoma cases</strong></a> suggests the burden of melanoma could double by 2040 and deaths could increase by almost 70 per cent. There was significant variation between regions, but Australia and New Zealand came out on top (with 42 new cases in males and 31 cases in females per 100 000 person-years).<br><br>The good news is that the Melanoma Institute Australia released what they say is a <a href="https://melanoma.org.au/news/state-of-the-nation/"><strong>landmark report</strong></a> providing a roadmap to zero deaths from melanoma in the country. Many of their recommendations will involve General Practice such as:</p> <ul><li>Long-term investment in a national prevention and early detection awareness strategy</li><li>Improved sun-safety in secondary schools and on sporting fields</li><li>Maintenance of melanoma clinical guidelines through a peak national body</li><li>Development of evidence for a national targeted population screening program for melanoma</li><li>Investment in GP training and development of a clinical standard of care for melanoma</li><li>Increased supply of and access to professionals trained in skin checks</li><li>Development of a model of care for melanoma survivors</li><li>Funding for a national melanoma nurse support service.</li></ul> <p>Rates in Australia are continuing to rise among over-50s while they decline amongst people in their 20s, 30s and 40s, which <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/mar/31/global-melanoma-rate-to-increase-by-50-by-2040-researchers-predict"><strong>one of the study’s authors suggests</strong></a> could be attributed to public health campaigns like Slip-Slop-Slap introduced in 1981.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80387</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Encephalopathy Linked to Repetitive Head Injury</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/encephalopathy-linked-to-head-injury/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 19 May 2022 23:46:19 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[brain]]></category> <category><![CDATA[memory loss]]></category> <category><![CDATA[trauma]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80385</guid> <description><![CDATA[The Australian Sports Brain Bank (ASBB) researches chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) – a type of brain injury caused by repetitive head traumas. It’s now been running for three years and has released findings on 21 sportspeople who donated their brains to the organisation for research. All donors had played in sports with a risk of […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>The Australian Sports Brain Bank (ASBB) researches chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) – a type of brain injury caused by repetitive head traumas. It’s now been running for three years and has<a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2022/216/10/chronic-traumatic-encephalopathy-australia-first-three-years-australian-sports"> <strong>released findings on 21 sportspeople who donated their brains to the organisation for research</strong></a>.</p> <p>All donors had played in sports with a risk of repetitive head injury, usually a football code. The ASBB found all but one donor had some form of neurodegeneration, and most had at least two different kinds of brain injury.</p> <p>CTE was most often detected in the brains of people who had played professionally, but was also found in non-professional players, including younger ones.<br><br>Other research has found even small repeated head injuries (like heading a soccer ball) <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31985774/"><strong>was linked to poorer verbal memory in amateur players</strong></a>. It all points to parents in particular being aware of the risks of head trauma if their child is playing a high-risk sport. It’s also important that coaches follow concussion protocols</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80385</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Significant Harm Linked to Vaping</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/significant-harm-linked-vaping/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 19 May 2022 05:32:41 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[smoking]]></category> <category><![CDATA[vaping]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80317</guid> <description><![CDATA[Vaping has been controversial over the past decade with arguments about its potential harms or benefits. Proponents argue it’s a less harmful alternative to smoking cigarettes, while detractors warn it could act as a gateway for young people into tobacco smoking. Now a major review of the evidence coming out of the Australian National University […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Vaping has been controversial over the past decade with arguments about its potential harms or benefits. Proponents argue it’s a less harmful alternative to smoking cigarettes, while detractors warn it could act as a gateway for young people into tobacco smoking.</p> <p><br>Now a <a href="https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/262914">major review of the evidence coming out of the Australian National University</a> has found that e-cigarettes do pose significant harms, among them the risk of lung injury, burns, seizures and the increased probability of taking up cigarette smoking.</p> <p><br>The review also found that changes in the technology used by e-cigarettes or ‘vapes’ mean that users may be growing more dependent over time. Users of ‘fourth generation’ cartridge and pod style vapes (often single-use and disposable) typically had a higher dependence score than earlier forms of vaping technology (such as the first generation ‘cigalike’ devices).<br></p> <ul><li><em>National and state data from patient reports and product sample testing show tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-containing e-cigarette, or vaping, products, particularly from informal sources like friends, family, or in-person or online dealers, are linked to most EVALI cases and play a major role in the outbreak.</em></li><li><em>Vitamin E acetate is strongly linked to the EVALI outbreak. Vitamin E acetate has been found in product samples tested by FDA and state laboratories and in patient lung fluid samples tested by CDC from geographically diverse states. Vitamin E acetate has not been found in the lung fluid of people that do not have EVALI.</em></li><li><em>Evidence is not sufficient to rule out the contribution of other chemicals of concern, including chemicals in either THC or non-THC products, in some of the reported EVALI cases.</em></li></ul> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80317</post-id> </item> <item> <title>A New Medication for Alzheimer’s Disease?</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/alzheimers-disease-new-medication/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 19 May 2022 05:09:39 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[alzheimer's disease]]></category> <category><![CDATA[dementia]]></category> <category><![CDATA[medication]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80310</guid> <description><![CDATA[Aducanumab is a medication designed to treat Alzheimer’s disease developed by Biogen. It’s a monoclonal antibody designed to remove amyloid – one of the two proteins that gum up the nerves in the brains of people with the condition. Aducanumab has proven controversial in the United States, where the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decision […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Aducanumab is a medication designed to treat Alzheimer’s disease developed by Biogen. It’s a monoclonal antibody designed to remove amyloid – one of the two proteins that gum up the nerves in the brains of people with the condition. Aducanumab has proven controversial in the United States, where the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decision to approve the drug for use led to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/10/health/aduhelm-fda-resign-alzheimers.html"><strong>the resignation of three FDA advisers</strong></a>. Despite the approval, UA Medicare has refused to pay for Aducanumab prescriptions unless a person is on a trial.</p> <p>The conflict centres around the quality of the evidence supporting the effectiveness of the drug, with Phase III studies (the EMERGE and ENGAGE trials) returning mixed results.</p> <p>The Therapeutic Goods Administration is currently reviewing whether the drug should be approved for use in Australia but that may change by the time you read this as even the manufacturer is having second thoughts about the drug. In a piece <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.5694/mja2.51408"><strong>published in the Medical Journal of Australia</strong></a>, researchers from the Melbourne Dementia Research Centre and Concord Hospital argue there are significant concerns over the drug’s efficacy and benefits.</p> <p>One trial (EMERGE) did find a benefit of Aducanumab over the placebo in slowing clinical scores indicating Alzheimer’s decline when given at high doses, but the size of the effect was small, and in the other study (ENGAGE) no effect was seen. What’s more, these findings were only made during a secondary analysis of the data after the trials had been discontinued due to futility (external assessors judged that people in the trial weren’t seeing any benefit – the drugs weren’t having an effect). There were also side effects such as brain swelling and small bleeds.</p> <p>The MJA article argues that adequate effectiveness of the drug hasn’t yet been demonstrated, and if the positive findings could be replicated, approval still wouldn’t be cost-effective.</p> <p>This calls into question treatment strategies for dementia but the reality is that dementia research has come a long way and there are interventions which do seem to work in prevention and management of early cognitive decline.</p> <p><strong>Early Signs of dementia should not be swept to one side – find out for yourself</strong></p> <p><strong>Tonic Media Network recently hosted a high impact webinar for GPs and General Practices about the importance of early diagnosis of dementia and the interventions that can make a difference. You can see the webinar – and we strongly encourage you to do so by going to this <a href="https://tonichealthmedia.createsend1.com/t/d-i-fjtjduy-l-r/">link</a>. The webinar was sponsored by Dementia Australia and has been very well received.</strong></p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80310</post-id> </item> <item> <title>COVID Update – General Practice Could Be Life-saving</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/covid-update/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 19 May 2022 05:01:06 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[coronavirus (COVID-19)]]></category> <category><![CDATA[covid-19]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Covid-19 vaccine]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Long Covid]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80303</guid> <description><![CDATA[At the time of writing, Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are thought to be taking over in Australia. As they are more contagious, we are seeing a significant wave of infections such that Australia has one of the highest infection rates in the world.  While we are reaping the benefits of high vaccination rates with […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>At the time of writing, Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are thought to be taking over in Australia. As they are more contagious, we are seeing a significant wave of infections such that Australia has one of the highest infection rates in the world. </p> <p>While we are reaping the benefits of high vaccination rates with lower risks of hospitalisation and deaths, we are nonetheless seeing high absolute numbers of deaths at an average of around 40 per day which amounts to a Boeing 737 jet crash every week. </p> <p>We don’t know much about these people and how they’ve been managed, but in theory this death rate could be cut drastically if COVID antivirals were given to as many eligible patients as possible, promptly after symptoms arise.</p> <h4 id="h-good-news-about-long-covid"><strong>Good news about Long COVID</strong></h4> <p>Data from the UK Office of National Statistics has shown that in people who are triple vaccinated the risk of prolonged COVID symptoms after four weeks drops from around 30% to 9%. But when here are a lot of infections, that still amounts to many people. In the UK, this equates to nearly 2 million and around 6% say it’s significantly affecting their lives.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80303</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Practice Connect – April 2022</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/practice-connect-april-2022/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2022 07:13:41 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[practice connect]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80255</guid> <description><![CDATA[Welcome to another edition of Practice Connect, where Tonic Media Network provides topical news and information for you and your patients.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Welcome to another edition of Practice Connect, where Tonic Media Network provides topical news and information for you and your patients.</p> <div class="wp-block-file aligncenter"><object class="wp-block-file__embed" data="https://www.mydr.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Practice-Connect-April-2022.pdf" type="application/pdf" style="width:100%;height:600px" aria-label="Embed of Practice Connect - April 2022."></object><a href="https://www.mydr.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Practice-Connect-April-2022.pdf">Practice Connect – April 2022</a><a href="https://www.mydr.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Practice-Connect-April-2022.pdf" class="wp-block-file__button" download>Download</a></div> <p></p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80255</post-id> </item> <item> <title>COVID and children. What should parents do if their child gets the virus?</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/covid-and-children-what-should-parents-do-if-their-child-gets-the-virus/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2022 05:56:59 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[children immunisation]]></category> <category><![CDATA[childrens health]]></category> <category><![CDATA[coronavirus (COVID-19)]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Covid-19 Vaccines]]></category> <category><![CDATA[effects of Covid on children]]></category> <category><![CDATA[parenthood]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80258</guid> <description><![CDATA[Paediatrician, Associate Professor Margie Danchin provides expert advice. Recently the New South Wales Coroner confirmed that COVID-19 was responsible for the death of a 2-month-old baby back in December 2021. This news comes after the death of a previously healthy 2-year-old in mid-March 2022. It’s understood the baby is Australia’s youngest COVID victim and while […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Paediatrician, Associate Professor Margie Danchin provides expert advice.</p> <p>Recently the New South Wales Coroner confirmed that COVID-19 was responsible for the death of a 2-month-old baby back in December 2021. This news comes after the death of a previously healthy 2-year-old in mid-March 2022. It’s understood the baby is Australia’s youngest COVID victim and while death and serious illness are rare among children, parents want to know what they should do if their child gets the virus.</p> <p>Associate Professor Margie Danchin is a Paediatrician specialising in immunisation at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.</p> <h4 id="h-have-we-underestimated-the-impact-of-the-virus-on-children"><strong>Have we underestimated the impact of the virus on children?</strong></h4> <p>We know that most children in fact, do experience either very mild symptoms or even asymptomatic infection, but severe disease does still happen in children. And they may need admission to hospital, and some can become severely unwell, especially if they have certain underlying medical conditions. We do need to be aware that COVID can be severe in children and we need to focus on getting eligible children vaccinated.</p> <h4><strong>Are we vaccinating at a high enough rate in the five to 11 age group?</strong></h4> <p>Vaccination coverage in the primary school age children, for one dose is around 56/57% nationally and about 12% for two doses. So, we’ve got a long way to go in terms of the coverage that we’ve achieved in the adult population. For 16-year-olds and over, it’s now 95% for two doses. But having said that, internationally, we’re doing very well. We’re on par with Canada and countries like the USA and the UK are far behind our coverage here in Australia.</p> <h4><strong>But that’s cold comfort if kids are going to get infected. What about the vaccine safety profile in kids?</strong></h4> <p>The safety profile is excellent in primary school age children. The common and expected side effects occur less frequently than in teenagers and young adults, and we have not seen a vaccine safety signal for myocarditis or inflammation of the heart, which we were concerned about having seen that after the second dose in teenagers, particularly young men. We have not seen that in primary school age children and in fact, the risk of myocarditis is one tenth that of the teenage age group. So that’s good news for parents.</p> <h4><strong>It’s going to be a while before we have vaccines available for the under fives and yet we’ve got such a surge on with many thousands of cases in Australia. What can parents do to protect their younger children, if anything?</strong></h4> <p>That’s right. The under fives don’t yet have a vaccine available, although we do hope that will happen in the next three to six months and we’ve seen a recent announcement from Moderna seeking approval in the FDA for the under sixers. So hopefully a vaccine is on the horizon, but in terms of parents caring for younger children, the most important thing is to make sure that children are drinking enough, that we keep up their fluids, that we use Panadol or Nurofen to treat any fever and that they get lots of rest and sleep.<br>And importantly, we really need to look out for any more serious signs of infection, which is usually listlessness, difficulty breathing, very high fever. Those children need to see a doctor and potentially go to hospital for further treatment.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80258</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Additional COVID-19 vaccine now recommended for vulnerable Australians</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/additional-covid-19-vaccine-now-recommended-for-vulnerable-australians/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2022 05:56:45 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Booster shots to covid vaccines]]></category> <category><![CDATA[coronavirus (COVID-19)]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Covid-19 Vaccines]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80262</guid> <description><![CDATA[Some Australians can receive their fourth — and in some cases, their fifth dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. In Australia, since Omicron has appeared there have been several waves of COVID infections, hospitalisations and deaths. Depending on what happens with variants this could get worse during the winter months. New subvariants of Omicron are appearing […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Some Australians can receive their fourth — and in some cases, their fifth dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.</p> <p>In Australia, since Omicron has appeared there have been several waves of COVID infections, hospitalisations and deaths. Depending on what happens with variants this could get worse during the winter months.</p> <p>New subvariants of Omicron are appearing regularly, and the latest at the time of writing being BA 4 which is thought to have arisen in someone infected at the same time from BA 1 and BA 3 where the viruses exchanged genes. BA 4 is not thought to be more contagious or dangerous than BA 1 or 2. </p> <p><a href="https://www.health.gov.au/news/atagi-statement-on-recommendations-on-a-winter-booster-dose-of-covid-19-vaccine" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) has recommended a winter booster jab</a> for the most vulnerable Australians. People aged over 65, those who are immunocompromised and Indigenous Australians over 50’s, are encouraged to receive the booster four to six months after they have had their third shot, based on medical advice. People who live in aged care or disability care facilities and people aged 16 and over who have been deemed severely immunocompromised are also eligible.</p> <p>Vaccines are going to continue playing the key role. At the time of writing, 86% of Australians had received their 1st vaccine dose; 82% their second dose; and almost 50% their third dose.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80262</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Influenza could be bad this year. What does it mean for your practice?</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/influenza-could-be-bad-this-year-what-does-it-mean-for-your-practice/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2022 05:56:29 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[coronavirus (COVID-19)]]></category> <category><![CDATA[influenza]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Influenza immunisation]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80265</guid> <description><![CDATA[Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly has recently warned Australia is likely to see an increase in flu cases this winter and has encouraged people to get the flu injection. This comes at a busy time for many practices as you are also trying to administer the additional COVID-19 vaccine to vulnerable people and keep on […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly has recently warned Australia is likely to see an increase in flu cases this winter and has encouraged people to get the flu injection.</p> <p>This comes at a busy time for many practices as you are also trying to administer the additional COVID-19 vaccine to vulnerable people and keep on top of business as usual activities.</p> <p>Over the past two years, flu infection rates have been low in the community due to border closures, lockdowns and social distancing rules. </p> <p>We haven’t had much circulating flu for us to be naturally boosted and a greater proportion of people haven’t had a flu vaccine, leading to waned immunity. It is estimated that Australia has an under vaccinated population of between 20% – 30% due to the pandemic.</p> <p>There are concerns cases will jump in coming months, along with an increase in COVID-19 cases. </p> <p>In additional to the vulnerable populations, experts also believe that we may have to keep a close eye on young children this winter who may not have had exposure to the flu or received a flu injection. This cohort could be at increased risk of contracting flu and become very unwell.</p> <h4><strong>Testing for COVID-19 and the flu </strong></h4> <p>Work is underway to try and devise a single test that would check if a person has COVID-19 or the flu at the same time. Deputy Chief Medical Officer Sonya Bennett said it would help provide faster diagnosis and care. </p> <p>“We are hoping that will be in place during winter, it might not be in place at the beginning of winter, but certainly I would expect we would be seeing multiplex testing in hospitals and for those at risk by mid-winter,” she said. </p> <h4 id="h-could-we-see-flurona"><strong>Could we see ‘flurona’</strong>?</h4> <p>We may also see dual infections – when someone has COVID and influenza at the same time – sometimes dubbed “flurona”.</p> <p>While this has occurred, the rates of dual infections globally have been low based on the limited research. Generally, <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2021.681469/full">under 1% of people</a> with COVID also have influenza at the same time. Even with dual infections, people do not seem to be sicker than if they had COVID alone. Although the importance of such co-infection, especially in high-risk individuals and the elderly, cannot be ignored.</p> <h4><strong>Useful Resources</strong><strong></strong></h4> <p>Thanks to our friends at Cubiko, below are some additional resources that your practice may wish to access regarding preparing for flu season:</p> <ul><li><strong><a href="https://www.racgp.org.au/download/Documents/Guidelines/Flukit/pandemic-flu-kit.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RACGP Pandemic Influenza Toolkit</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/infectioncontrol/healthcaresettings.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Prevention Strategies for Influenza in Healthcare</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.racgp.org.au/running-a-practice/practice-standards/standards-5th-edition/infection-prevention-and-control" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Infection Control</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.racgp.org.au/FSDEDEV/media/documents/Running%20a%20practice/Practice%20standards/5th%20edition/Cold-chain-management.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cold Chain Management</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/national-vaccine-storage-guidelines-strive-for-5" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Vaccine Storage Guidelines ‘Strive for 5’</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.health.gov.au/initiatives-and-programs/covid-19-vaccines/is-it-true/is-it-true-do-i-have-to-wait-between-getting-the-influenza-flu-and-covid-19-vaccine" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Administering COVID-19 and Influenza Same Day</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.cubiko.com.au/blog/how-cubiko-helps-you-deliver-the-flu-vaccines/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cubiko blog: How Cubiko helps you deliver the flu vaccine</a></strong></li></ul> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80265</post-id> </item> </channel> </rss> ' status_code => (int) 200 redirects => (int) 0 error => null method => (int) 9 } $locate = null $this = object(SimplePie) { data => array( 'child' => array( [maximum depth reached] ), 'type' => (int) 128, 'headers' => array( [maximum depth reached] ), 'build' => '20111015034325' ) error => null sanitize => object(SimplePie_Sanitize) {} useragent => 'SimplePie/1.2.1-dev (Feed Parser; 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ma=86400, h3-29=:443; ma=86400' ) $data = '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" xmlns:georss="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:geo="http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#" > <channel> <title>MyDr.com.au</title> <atom:link href="https://www.mydr.com.au/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au</link> <description>Health and Medical Information for Australia</description> <lastBuildDate>Fri, 20 May 2022 03:21:06 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en-US</language> <sy:updatePeriod> hourly </sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency> 1 </sy:updateFrequency> <generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=5.8.4</generator> <image> <url>https://www.mydr.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/cropped-favicon_mydr-32x32.png</url> <title>MyDr.com.au</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au</link> <width>32</width> <height>32</height> </image> <site xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">185164398</site> <item> <title>Practice Connect – May 2022</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/practice-connect-may-2022/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Fri, 20 May 2022 03:20:19 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category> <category><![CDATA[practice connect]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80389</guid> <description><![CDATA[Welcome to another edition of Practice Connect, where Tonic Media Network provides topical news and information for you and your patients.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Welcome to another edition of Practice Connect, where Tonic Media Network provides topical news and information for you and your patients.</p> <div class="wp-block-file"><object class="wp-block-file__embed" data="https://www.mydr.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Practice-Connect-May-2022-PDF-May.pdf" type="application/pdf" style="width:100%;height:600px" aria-label="Embed of Practice-Connect-May-2022-PDF-May."></object><a href="https://www.mydr.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Practice-Connect-May-2022-PDF-May.pdf">Practice-Connect-May-2022-PDF-May</a><a href="https://www.mydr.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Practice-Connect-May-2022-PDF-May.pdf" class="wp-block-file__button" download>Download</a></div> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80389</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Melanoma Cases and Deaths Predicted to Rise in the Next Two Decades</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/melanoma-cases-and-deaths-predicted-to-rise-in-the-next-two-decades/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 19 May 2022 23:52:26 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[cancer]]></category> <category><![CDATA[skin cancer]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80387</guid> <description><![CDATA[A global analysis of melanoma cases suggests the burden of melanoma could double by 2040 and deaths could increase by almost 70 per cent. There was significant variation between regions, but Australia and New Zealand came out on top (with 42 new cases in males and 31 cases in females per 100 000 person-years). The good […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>A <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamadermatology/article-abstract/2790344"><strong>global analysis of melanoma cases</strong></a> suggests the burden of melanoma could double by 2040 and deaths could increase by almost 70 per cent. There was significant variation between regions, but Australia and New Zealand came out on top (with 42 new cases in males and 31 cases in females per 100 000 person-years).<br><br>The good news is that the Melanoma Institute Australia released what they say is a <a href="https://melanoma.org.au/news/state-of-the-nation/"><strong>landmark report</strong></a> providing a roadmap to zero deaths from melanoma in the country. Many of their recommendations will involve General Practice such as:</p> <ul><li>Long-term investment in a national prevention and early detection awareness strategy</li><li>Improved sun-safety in secondary schools and on sporting fields</li><li>Maintenance of melanoma clinical guidelines through a peak national body</li><li>Development of evidence for a national targeted population screening program for melanoma</li><li>Investment in GP training and development of a clinical standard of care for melanoma</li><li>Increased supply of and access to professionals trained in skin checks</li><li>Development of a model of care for melanoma survivors</li><li>Funding for a national melanoma nurse support service.</li></ul> <p>Rates in Australia are continuing to rise among over-50s while they decline amongst people in their 20s, 30s and 40s, which <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/mar/31/global-melanoma-rate-to-increase-by-50-by-2040-researchers-predict"><strong>one of the study’s authors suggests</strong></a> could be attributed to public health campaigns like Slip-Slop-Slap introduced in 1981.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80387</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Encephalopathy Linked to Repetitive Head Injury</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/encephalopathy-linked-to-head-injury/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 19 May 2022 23:46:19 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[brain]]></category> <category><![CDATA[memory loss]]></category> <category><![CDATA[trauma]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80385</guid> <description><![CDATA[The Australian Sports Brain Bank (ASBB) researches chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) – a type of brain injury caused by repetitive head traumas. It’s now been running for three years and has released findings on 21 sportspeople who donated their brains to the organisation for research. All donors had played in sports with a risk of […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>The Australian Sports Brain Bank (ASBB) researches chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) – a type of brain injury caused by repetitive head traumas. It’s now been running for three years and has<a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2022/216/10/chronic-traumatic-encephalopathy-australia-first-three-years-australian-sports"> <strong>released findings on 21 sportspeople who donated their brains to the organisation for research</strong></a>.</p> <p>All donors had played in sports with a risk of repetitive head injury, usually a football code. The ASBB found all but one donor had some form of neurodegeneration, and most had at least two different kinds of brain injury.</p> <p>CTE was most often detected in the brains of people who had played professionally, but was also found in non-professional players, including younger ones.<br><br>Other research has found even small repeated head injuries (like heading a soccer ball) <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31985774/"><strong>was linked to poorer verbal memory in amateur players</strong></a>. It all points to parents in particular being aware of the risks of head trauma if their child is playing a high-risk sport. It’s also important that coaches follow concussion protocols</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80385</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Significant Harm Linked to Vaping</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/significant-harm-linked-vaping/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 19 May 2022 05:32:41 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[smoking]]></category> <category><![CDATA[vaping]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80317</guid> <description><![CDATA[Vaping has been controversial over the past decade with arguments about its potential harms or benefits. Proponents argue it’s a less harmful alternative to smoking cigarettes, while detractors warn it could act as a gateway for young people into tobacco smoking. Now a major review of the evidence coming out of the Australian National University […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Vaping has been controversial over the past decade with arguments about its potential harms or benefits. Proponents argue it’s a less harmful alternative to smoking cigarettes, while detractors warn it could act as a gateway for young people into tobacco smoking.</p> <p><br>Now a <a href="https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/262914">major review of the evidence coming out of the Australian National University</a> has found that e-cigarettes do pose significant harms, among them the risk of lung injury, burns, seizures and the increased probability of taking up cigarette smoking.</p> <p><br>The review also found that changes in the technology used by e-cigarettes or ‘vapes’ mean that users may be growing more dependent over time. Users of ‘fourth generation’ cartridge and pod style vapes (often single-use and disposable) typically had a higher dependence score than earlier forms of vaping technology (such as the first generation ‘cigalike’ devices).<br></p> <ul><li><em>National and state data from patient reports and product sample testing show tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-containing e-cigarette, or vaping, products, particularly from informal sources like friends, family, or in-person or online dealers, are linked to most EVALI cases and play a major role in the outbreak.</em></li><li><em>Vitamin E acetate is strongly linked to the EVALI outbreak. Vitamin E acetate has been found in product samples tested by FDA and state laboratories and in patient lung fluid samples tested by CDC from geographically diverse states. Vitamin E acetate has not been found in the lung fluid of people that do not have EVALI.</em></li><li><em>Evidence is not sufficient to rule out the contribution of other chemicals of concern, including chemicals in either THC or non-THC products, in some of the reported EVALI cases.</em></li></ul> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80317</post-id> </item> <item> <title>A New Medication for Alzheimer’s Disease?</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/alzheimers-disease-new-medication/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 19 May 2022 05:09:39 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[alzheimer's disease]]></category> <category><![CDATA[dementia]]></category> <category><![CDATA[medication]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80310</guid> <description><![CDATA[Aducanumab is a medication designed to treat Alzheimer’s disease developed by Biogen. It’s a monoclonal antibody designed to remove amyloid – one of the two proteins that gum up the nerves in the brains of people with the condition. Aducanumab has proven controversial in the United States, where the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decision […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Aducanumab is a medication designed to treat Alzheimer’s disease developed by Biogen. It’s a monoclonal antibody designed to remove amyloid – one of the two proteins that gum up the nerves in the brains of people with the condition. Aducanumab has proven controversial in the United States, where the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decision to approve the drug for use led to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/10/health/aduhelm-fda-resign-alzheimers.html"><strong>the resignation of three FDA advisers</strong></a>. Despite the approval, UA Medicare has refused to pay for Aducanumab prescriptions unless a person is on a trial.</p> <p>The conflict centres around the quality of the evidence supporting the effectiveness of the drug, with Phase III studies (the EMERGE and ENGAGE trials) returning mixed results.</p> <p>The Therapeutic Goods Administration is currently reviewing whether the drug should be approved for use in Australia but that may change by the time you read this as even the manufacturer is having second thoughts about the drug. In a piece <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.5694/mja2.51408"><strong>published in the Medical Journal of Australia</strong></a>, researchers from the Melbourne Dementia Research Centre and Concord Hospital argue there are significant concerns over the drug’s efficacy and benefits.</p> <p>One trial (EMERGE) did find a benefit of Aducanumab over the placebo in slowing clinical scores indicating Alzheimer’s decline when given at high doses, but the size of the effect was small, and in the other study (ENGAGE) no effect was seen. What’s more, these findings were only made during a secondary analysis of the data after the trials had been discontinued due to futility (external assessors judged that people in the trial weren’t seeing any benefit – the drugs weren’t having an effect). There were also side effects such as brain swelling and small bleeds.</p> <p>The MJA article argues that adequate effectiveness of the drug hasn’t yet been demonstrated, and if the positive findings could be replicated, approval still wouldn’t be cost-effective.</p> <p>This calls into question treatment strategies for dementia but the reality is that dementia research has come a long way and there are interventions which do seem to work in prevention and management of early cognitive decline.</p> <p><strong>Early Signs of dementia should not be swept to one side – find out for yourself</strong></p> <p><strong>Tonic Media Network recently hosted a high impact webinar for GPs and General Practices about the importance of early diagnosis of dementia and the interventions that can make a difference. You can see the webinar – and we strongly encourage you to do so by going to this <a href="https://tonichealthmedia.createsend1.com/t/d-i-fjtjduy-l-r/">link</a>. The webinar was sponsored by Dementia Australia and has been very well received.</strong></p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80310</post-id> </item> <item> <title>COVID Update – General Practice Could Be Life-saving</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/covid-update/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 19 May 2022 05:01:06 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[coronavirus (COVID-19)]]></category> <category><![CDATA[covid-19]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Covid-19 vaccine]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Long Covid]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80303</guid> <description><![CDATA[At the time of writing, Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are thought to be taking over in Australia. As they are more contagious, we are seeing a significant wave of infections such that Australia has one of the highest infection rates in the world.  While we are reaping the benefits of high vaccination rates with […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>At the time of writing, Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are thought to be taking over in Australia. As they are more contagious, we are seeing a significant wave of infections such that Australia has one of the highest infection rates in the world. </p> <p>While we are reaping the benefits of high vaccination rates with lower risks of hospitalisation and deaths, we are nonetheless seeing high absolute numbers of deaths at an average of around 40 per day which amounts to a Boeing 737 jet crash every week. </p> <p>We don’t know much about these people and how they’ve been managed, but in theory this death rate could be cut drastically if COVID antivirals were given to as many eligible patients as possible, promptly after symptoms arise.</p> <h4 id="h-good-news-about-long-covid"><strong>Good news about Long COVID</strong></h4> <p>Data from the UK Office of National Statistics has shown that in people who are triple vaccinated the risk of prolonged COVID symptoms after four weeks drops from around 30% to 9%. But when here are a lot of infections, that still amounts to many people. In the UK, this equates to nearly 2 million and around 6% say it’s significantly affecting their lives.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80303</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Practice Connect – April 2022</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/practice-connect-april-2022/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2022 07:13:41 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[practice connect]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80255</guid> <description><![CDATA[Welcome to another edition of Practice Connect, where Tonic Media Network provides topical news and information for you and your patients.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Welcome to another edition of Practice Connect, where Tonic Media Network provides topical news and information for you and your patients.</p> <div class="wp-block-file aligncenter"><object class="wp-block-file__embed" data="https://www.mydr.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Practice-Connect-April-2022.pdf" type="application/pdf" style="width:100%;height:600px" aria-label="Embed of Practice Connect - April 2022."></object><a href="https://www.mydr.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Practice-Connect-April-2022.pdf">Practice Connect – April 2022</a><a href="https://www.mydr.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Practice-Connect-April-2022.pdf" class="wp-block-file__button" download>Download</a></div> <p></p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80255</post-id> </item> <item> <title>COVID and children. What should parents do if their child gets the virus?</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/covid-and-children-what-should-parents-do-if-their-child-gets-the-virus/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2022 05:56:59 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[children immunisation]]></category> <category><![CDATA[childrens health]]></category> <category><![CDATA[coronavirus (COVID-19)]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Covid-19 Vaccines]]></category> <category><![CDATA[effects of Covid on children]]></category> <category><![CDATA[parenthood]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80258</guid> <description><![CDATA[Paediatrician, Associate Professor Margie Danchin provides expert advice. Recently the New South Wales Coroner confirmed that COVID-19 was responsible for the death of a 2-month-old baby back in December 2021. This news comes after the death of a previously healthy 2-year-old in mid-March 2022. It’s understood the baby is Australia’s youngest COVID victim and while […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Paediatrician, Associate Professor Margie Danchin provides expert advice.</p> <p>Recently the New South Wales Coroner confirmed that COVID-19 was responsible for the death of a 2-month-old baby back in December 2021. This news comes after the death of a previously healthy 2-year-old in mid-March 2022. It’s understood the baby is Australia’s youngest COVID victim and while death and serious illness are rare among children, parents want to know what they should do if their child gets the virus.</p> <p>Associate Professor Margie Danchin is a Paediatrician specialising in immunisation at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.</p> <h4 id="h-have-we-underestimated-the-impact-of-the-virus-on-children"><strong>Have we underestimated the impact of the virus on children?</strong></h4> <p>We know that most children in fact, do experience either very mild symptoms or even asymptomatic infection, but severe disease does still happen in children. And they may need admission to hospital, and some can become severely unwell, especially if they have certain underlying medical conditions. We do need to be aware that COVID can be severe in children and we need to focus on getting eligible children vaccinated.</p> <h4><strong>Are we vaccinating at a high enough rate in the five to 11 age group?</strong></h4> <p>Vaccination coverage in the primary school age children, for one dose is around 56/57% nationally and about 12% for two doses. So, we’ve got a long way to go in terms of the coverage that we’ve achieved in the adult population. For 16-year-olds and over, it’s now 95% for two doses. But having said that, internationally, we’re doing very well. We’re on par with Canada and countries like the USA and the UK are far behind our coverage here in Australia.</p> <h4><strong>But that’s cold comfort if kids are going to get infected. What about the vaccine safety profile in kids?</strong></h4> <p>The safety profile is excellent in primary school age children. The common and expected side effects occur less frequently than in teenagers and young adults, and we have not seen a vaccine safety signal for myocarditis or inflammation of the heart, which we were concerned about having seen that after the second dose in teenagers, particularly young men. We have not seen that in primary school age children and in fact, the risk of myocarditis is one tenth that of the teenage age group. So that’s good news for parents.</p> <h4><strong>It’s going to be a while before we have vaccines available for the under fives and yet we’ve got such a surge on with many thousands of cases in Australia. What can parents do to protect their younger children, if anything?</strong></h4> <p>That’s right. The under fives don’t yet have a vaccine available, although we do hope that will happen in the next three to six months and we’ve seen a recent announcement from Moderna seeking approval in the FDA for the under sixers. So hopefully a vaccine is on the horizon, but in terms of parents caring for younger children, the most important thing is to make sure that children are drinking enough, that we keep up their fluids, that we use Panadol or Nurofen to treat any fever and that they get lots of rest and sleep.<br>And importantly, we really need to look out for any more serious signs of infection, which is usually listlessness, difficulty breathing, very high fever. Those children need to see a doctor and potentially go to hospital for further treatment.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80258</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Additional COVID-19 vaccine now recommended for vulnerable Australians</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/additional-covid-19-vaccine-now-recommended-for-vulnerable-australians/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2022 05:56:45 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Booster shots to covid vaccines]]></category> <category><![CDATA[coronavirus (COVID-19)]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Covid-19 Vaccines]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80262</guid> <description><![CDATA[Some Australians can receive their fourth — and in some cases, their fifth dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. In Australia, since Omicron has appeared there have been several waves of COVID infections, hospitalisations and deaths. Depending on what happens with variants this could get worse during the winter months. New subvariants of Omicron are appearing […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Some Australians can receive their fourth — and in some cases, their fifth dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.</p> <p>In Australia, since Omicron has appeared there have been several waves of COVID infections, hospitalisations and deaths. Depending on what happens with variants this could get worse during the winter months.</p> <p>New subvariants of Omicron are appearing regularly, and the latest at the time of writing being BA 4 which is thought to have arisen in someone infected at the same time from BA 1 and BA 3 where the viruses exchanged genes. BA 4 is not thought to be more contagious or dangerous than BA 1 or 2. </p> <p><a href="https://www.health.gov.au/news/atagi-statement-on-recommendations-on-a-winter-booster-dose-of-covid-19-vaccine" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) has recommended a winter booster jab</a> for the most vulnerable Australians. People aged over 65, those who are immunocompromised and Indigenous Australians over 50’s, are encouraged to receive the booster four to six months after they have had their third shot, based on medical advice. People who live in aged care or disability care facilities and people aged 16 and over who have been deemed severely immunocompromised are also eligible.</p> <p>Vaccines are going to continue playing the key role. At the time of writing, 86% of Australians had received their 1st vaccine dose; 82% their second dose; and almost 50% their third dose.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80262</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Influenza could be bad this year. What does it mean for your practice?</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/influenza-could-be-bad-this-year-what-does-it-mean-for-your-practice/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2022 05:56:29 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[coronavirus (COVID-19)]]></category> <category><![CDATA[influenza]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Influenza immunisation]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80265</guid> <description><![CDATA[Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly has recently warned Australia is likely to see an increase in flu cases this winter and has encouraged people to get the flu injection. This comes at a busy time for many practices as you are also trying to administer the additional COVID-19 vaccine to vulnerable people and keep on […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly has recently warned Australia is likely to see an increase in flu cases this winter and has encouraged people to get the flu injection.</p> <p>This comes at a busy time for many practices as you are also trying to administer the additional COVID-19 vaccine to vulnerable people and keep on top of business as usual activities.</p> <p>Over the past two years, flu infection rates have been low in the community due to border closures, lockdowns and social distancing rules. </p> <p>We haven’t had much circulating flu for us to be naturally boosted and a greater proportion of people haven’t had a flu vaccine, leading to waned immunity. It is estimated that Australia has an under vaccinated population of between 20% – 30% due to the pandemic.</p> <p>There are concerns cases will jump in coming months, along with an increase in COVID-19 cases. </p> <p>In additional to the vulnerable populations, experts also believe that we may have to keep a close eye on young children this winter who may not have had exposure to the flu or received a flu injection. This cohort could be at increased risk of contracting flu and become very unwell.</p> <h4><strong>Testing for COVID-19 and the flu </strong></h4> <p>Work is underway to try and devise a single test that would check if a person has COVID-19 or the flu at the same time. Deputy Chief Medical Officer Sonya Bennett said it would help provide faster diagnosis and care. </p> <p>“We are hoping that will be in place during winter, it might not be in place at the beginning of winter, but certainly I would expect we would be seeing multiplex testing in hospitals and for those at risk by mid-winter,” she said. </p> <h4 id="h-could-we-see-flurona"><strong>Could we see ‘flurona’</strong>?</h4> <p>We may also see dual infections – when someone has COVID and influenza at the same time – sometimes dubbed “flurona”.</p> <p>While this has occurred, the rates of dual infections globally have been low based on the limited research. Generally, <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2021.681469/full">under 1% of people</a> with COVID also have influenza at the same time. Even with dual infections, people do not seem to be sicker than if they had COVID alone. Although the importance of such co-infection, especially in high-risk individuals and the elderly, cannot be ignored.</p> <h4><strong>Useful Resources</strong><strong></strong></h4> <p>Thanks to our friends at Cubiko, below are some additional resources that your practice may wish to access regarding preparing for flu season:</p> <ul><li><strong><a href="https://www.racgp.org.au/download/Documents/Guidelines/Flukit/pandemic-flu-kit.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RACGP Pandemic Influenza Toolkit</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/infectioncontrol/healthcaresettings.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Prevention Strategies for Influenza in Healthcare</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.racgp.org.au/running-a-practice/practice-standards/standards-5th-edition/infection-prevention-and-control" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Infection Control</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.racgp.org.au/FSDEDEV/media/documents/Running%20a%20practice/Practice%20standards/5th%20edition/Cold-chain-management.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cold Chain Management</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/national-vaccine-storage-guidelines-strive-for-5" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Vaccine Storage Guidelines ‘Strive for 5’</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.health.gov.au/initiatives-and-programs/covid-19-vaccines/is-it-true/is-it-true-do-i-have-to-wait-between-getting-the-influenza-flu-and-covid-19-vaccine" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Administering COVID-19 and Influenza Same Day</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.cubiko.com.au/blog/how-cubiko-helps-you-deliver-the-flu-vaccines/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cubiko blog: How Cubiko helps you deliver the flu vaccine</a></strong></li></ul> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80265</post-id> </item> </channel> </rss> ' $sniffer = object(SimplePie_Content_Type_Sniffer) { file => object(SimplePie_File) {} } $sniffed = 'application/rss+xml' $encodings = array( (int) 0 => 'UTF-8', (int) 7 => 'ISO-8859-1' ) $application_types = array( (int) 0 => 'application/xml', (int) 1 => 'application/xml-dtd', (int) 2 => 'application/xml-external-parsed-entity' ) $text_types = array( (int) 0 => 'text/xml', (int) 1 => 'text/xml-external-parsed-entity' ) $charset = array( (int) 0 => '; charset=UTF-8', (int) 1 => 'UTF-8' ) $encoding = 'UTF-8' $utf8_data = '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" xmlns:georss="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:geo="http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#" > <channel> <title>MyDr.com.au</title> <atom:link href="https://www.mydr.com.au/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au</link> <description>Health and Medical Information for Australia</description> <lastBuildDate>Fri, 20 May 2022 03:21:06 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en-US</language> <sy:updatePeriod> hourly </sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency> 1 </sy:updateFrequency> <generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=5.8.4</generator> <image> <url>https://www.mydr.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/cropped-favicon_mydr-32x32.png</url> <title>MyDr.com.au</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au</link> <width>32</width> <height>32</height> </image> <site xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">185164398</site> <item> <title>Practice Connect – May 2022</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/practice-connect-may-2022/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Fri, 20 May 2022 03:20:19 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category> <category><![CDATA[practice connect]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80389</guid> <description><![CDATA[Welcome to another edition of Practice Connect, where Tonic Media Network provides topical news and information for you and your patients.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Welcome to another edition of Practice Connect, where Tonic Media Network provides topical news and information for you and your patients.</p> <div class="wp-block-file"><object class="wp-block-file__embed" data="https://www.mydr.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Practice-Connect-May-2022-PDF-May.pdf" type="application/pdf" style="width:100%;height:600px" aria-label="Embed of Practice-Connect-May-2022-PDF-May."></object><a href="https://www.mydr.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Practice-Connect-May-2022-PDF-May.pdf">Practice-Connect-May-2022-PDF-May</a><a href="https://www.mydr.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Practice-Connect-May-2022-PDF-May.pdf" class="wp-block-file__button" download>Download</a></div> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80389</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Melanoma Cases and Deaths Predicted to Rise in the Next Two Decades</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/melanoma-cases-and-deaths-predicted-to-rise-in-the-next-two-decades/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 19 May 2022 23:52:26 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[cancer]]></category> <category><![CDATA[skin cancer]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80387</guid> <description><![CDATA[A global analysis of melanoma cases suggests the burden of melanoma could double by 2040 and deaths could increase by almost 70 per cent. There was significant variation between regions, but Australia and New Zealand came out on top (with 42 new cases in males and 31 cases in females per 100 000 person-years). The good […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>A <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamadermatology/article-abstract/2790344"><strong>global analysis of melanoma cases</strong></a> suggests the burden of melanoma could double by 2040 and deaths could increase by almost 70 per cent. There was significant variation between regions, but Australia and New Zealand came out on top (with 42 new cases in males and 31 cases in females per 100 000 person-years).<br><br>The good news is that the Melanoma Institute Australia released what they say is a <a href="https://melanoma.org.au/news/state-of-the-nation/"><strong>landmark report</strong></a> providing a roadmap to zero deaths from melanoma in the country. Many of their recommendations will involve General Practice such as:</p> <ul><li>Long-term investment in a national prevention and early detection awareness strategy</li><li>Improved sun-safety in secondary schools and on sporting fields</li><li>Maintenance of melanoma clinical guidelines through a peak national body</li><li>Development of evidence for a national targeted population screening program for melanoma</li><li>Investment in GP training and development of a clinical standard of care for melanoma</li><li>Increased supply of and access to professionals trained in skin checks</li><li>Development of a model of care for melanoma survivors</li><li>Funding for a national melanoma nurse support service.</li></ul> <p>Rates in Australia are continuing to rise among over-50s while they decline amongst people in their 20s, 30s and 40s, which <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/mar/31/global-melanoma-rate-to-increase-by-50-by-2040-researchers-predict"><strong>one of the study’s authors suggests</strong></a> could be attributed to public health campaigns like Slip-Slop-Slap introduced in 1981.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80387</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Encephalopathy Linked to Repetitive Head Injury</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/encephalopathy-linked-to-head-injury/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 19 May 2022 23:46:19 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[brain]]></category> <category><![CDATA[memory loss]]></category> <category><![CDATA[trauma]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80385</guid> <description><![CDATA[The Australian Sports Brain Bank (ASBB) researches chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) – a type of brain injury caused by repetitive head traumas. It’s now been running for three years and has released findings on 21 sportspeople who donated their brains to the organisation for research. All donors had played in sports with a risk of […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>The Australian Sports Brain Bank (ASBB) researches chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) – a type of brain injury caused by repetitive head traumas. It’s now been running for three years and has<a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2022/216/10/chronic-traumatic-encephalopathy-australia-first-three-years-australian-sports"> <strong>released findings on 21 sportspeople who donated their brains to the organisation for research</strong></a>.</p> <p>All donors had played in sports with a risk of repetitive head injury, usually a football code. The ASBB found all but one donor had some form of neurodegeneration, and most had at least two different kinds of brain injury.</p> <p>CTE was most often detected in the brains of people who had played professionally, but was also found in non-professional players, including younger ones.<br><br>Other research has found even small repeated head injuries (like heading a soccer ball) <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31985774/"><strong>was linked to poorer verbal memory in amateur players</strong></a>. It all points to parents in particular being aware of the risks of head trauma if their child is playing a high-risk sport. It’s also important that coaches follow concussion protocols</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80385</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Significant Harm Linked to Vaping</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/significant-harm-linked-vaping/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 19 May 2022 05:32:41 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[smoking]]></category> <category><![CDATA[vaping]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80317</guid> <description><![CDATA[Vaping has been controversial over the past decade with arguments about its potential harms or benefits. Proponents argue it’s a less harmful alternative to smoking cigarettes, while detractors warn it could act as a gateway for young people into tobacco smoking. Now a major review of the evidence coming out of the Australian National University […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Vaping has been controversial over the past decade with arguments about its potential harms or benefits. Proponents argue it’s a less harmful alternative to smoking cigarettes, while detractors warn it could act as a gateway for young people into tobacco smoking.</p> <p><br>Now a <a href="https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/262914">major review of the evidence coming out of the Australian National University</a> has found that e-cigarettes do pose significant harms, among them the risk of lung injury, burns, seizures and the increased probability of taking up cigarette smoking.</p> <p><br>The review also found that changes in the technology used by e-cigarettes or ‘vapes’ mean that users may be growing more dependent over time. Users of ‘fourth generation’ cartridge and pod style vapes (often single-use and disposable) typically had a higher dependence score than earlier forms of vaping technology (such as the first generation ‘cigalike’ devices).<br></p> <ul><li><em>National and state data from patient reports and product sample testing show tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-containing e-cigarette, or vaping, products, particularly from informal sources like friends, family, or in-person or online dealers, are linked to most EVALI cases and play a major role in the outbreak.</em></li><li><em>Vitamin E acetate is strongly linked to the EVALI outbreak. Vitamin E acetate has been found in product samples tested by FDA and state laboratories and in patient lung fluid samples tested by CDC from geographically diverse states. Vitamin E acetate has not been found in the lung fluid of people that do not have EVALI.</em></li><li><em>Evidence is not sufficient to rule out the contribution of other chemicals of concern, including chemicals in either THC or non-THC products, in some of the reported EVALI cases.</em></li></ul> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80317</post-id> </item> <item> <title>A New Medication for Alzheimer’s Disease?</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/alzheimers-disease-new-medication/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 19 May 2022 05:09:39 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[alzheimer's disease]]></category> <category><![CDATA[dementia]]></category> <category><![CDATA[medication]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80310</guid> <description><![CDATA[Aducanumab is a medication designed to treat Alzheimer’s disease developed by Biogen. It’s a monoclonal antibody designed to remove amyloid – one of the two proteins that gum up the nerves in the brains of people with the condition. Aducanumab has proven controversial in the United States, where the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decision […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Aducanumab is a medication designed to treat Alzheimer’s disease developed by Biogen. It’s a monoclonal antibody designed to remove amyloid – one of the two proteins that gum up the nerves in the brains of people with the condition. Aducanumab has proven controversial in the United States, where the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decision to approve the drug for use led to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/10/health/aduhelm-fda-resign-alzheimers.html"><strong>the resignation of three FDA advisers</strong></a>. Despite the approval, UA Medicare has refused to pay for Aducanumab prescriptions unless a person is on a trial.</p> <p>The conflict centres around the quality of the evidence supporting the effectiveness of the drug, with Phase III studies (the EMERGE and ENGAGE trials) returning mixed results.</p> <p>The Therapeutic Goods Administration is currently reviewing whether the drug should be approved for use in Australia but that may change by the time you read this as even the manufacturer is having second thoughts about the drug. In a piece <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.5694/mja2.51408"><strong>published in the Medical Journal of Australia</strong></a>, researchers from the Melbourne Dementia Research Centre and Concord Hospital argue there are significant concerns over the drug’s efficacy and benefits.</p> <p>One trial (EMERGE) did find a benefit of Aducanumab over the placebo in slowing clinical scores indicating Alzheimer’s decline when given at high doses, but the size of the effect was small, and in the other study (ENGAGE) no effect was seen. What’s more, these findings were only made during a secondary analysis of the data after the trials had been discontinued due to futility (external assessors judged that people in the trial weren’t seeing any benefit – the drugs weren’t having an effect). There were also side effects such as brain swelling and small bleeds.</p> <p>The MJA article argues that adequate effectiveness of the drug hasn’t yet been demonstrated, and if the positive findings could be replicated, approval still wouldn’t be cost-effective.</p> <p>This calls into question treatment strategies for dementia but the reality is that dementia research has come a long way and there are interventions which do seem to work in prevention and management of early cognitive decline.</p> <p><strong>Early Signs of dementia should not be swept to one side – find out for yourself</strong></p> <p><strong>Tonic Media Network recently hosted a high impact webinar for GPs and General Practices about the importance of early diagnosis of dementia and the interventions that can make a difference. You can see the webinar – and we strongly encourage you to do so by going to this <a href="https://tonichealthmedia.createsend1.com/t/d-i-fjtjduy-l-r/">link</a>. The webinar was sponsored by Dementia Australia and has been very well received.</strong></p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80310</post-id> </item> <item> <title>COVID Update – General Practice Could Be Life-saving</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/covid-update/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 19 May 2022 05:01:06 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[coronavirus (COVID-19)]]></category> <category><![CDATA[covid-19]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Covid-19 vaccine]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Long Covid]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80303</guid> <description><![CDATA[At the time of writing, Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are thought to be taking over in Australia. As they are more contagious, we are seeing a significant wave of infections such that Australia has one of the highest infection rates in the world.  While we are reaping the benefits of high vaccination rates with […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>At the time of writing, Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are thought to be taking over in Australia. As they are more contagious, we are seeing a significant wave of infections such that Australia has one of the highest infection rates in the world. </p> <p>While we are reaping the benefits of high vaccination rates with lower risks of hospitalisation and deaths, we are nonetheless seeing high absolute numbers of deaths at an average of around 40 per day which amounts to a Boeing 737 jet crash every week. </p> <p>We don’t know much about these people and how they’ve been managed, but in theory this death rate could be cut drastically if COVID antivirals were given to as many eligible patients as possible, promptly after symptoms arise.</p> <h4 id="h-good-news-about-long-covid"><strong>Good news about Long COVID</strong></h4> <p>Data from the UK Office of National Statistics has shown that in people who are triple vaccinated the risk of prolonged COVID symptoms after four weeks drops from around 30% to 9%. But when here are a lot of infections, that still amounts to many people. In the UK, this equates to nearly 2 million and around 6% say it’s significantly affecting their lives.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80303</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Practice Connect – April 2022</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/practice-connect-april-2022/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2022 07:13:41 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[practice connect]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80255</guid> <description><![CDATA[Welcome to another edition of Practice Connect, where Tonic Media Network provides topical news and information for you and your patients.]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Welcome to another edition of Practice Connect, where Tonic Media Network provides topical news and information for you and your patients.</p> <div class="wp-block-file aligncenter"><object class="wp-block-file__embed" data="https://www.mydr.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Practice-Connect-April-2022.pdf" type="application/pdf" style="width:100%;height:600px" aria-label="Embed of Practice Connect - April 2022."></object><a href="https://www.mydr.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Practice-Connect-April-2022.pdf">Practice Connect – April 2022</a><a href="https://www.mydr.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Practice-Connect-April-2022.pdf" class="wp-block-file__button" download>Download</a></div> <p></p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80255</post-id> </item> <item> <title>COVID and children. What should parents do if their child gets the virus?</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/covid-and-children-what-should-parents-do-if-their-child-gets-the-virus/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2022 05:56:59 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[children immunisation]]></category> <category><![CDATA[childrens health]]></category> <category><![CDATA[coronavirus (COVID-19)]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Covid-19 Vaccines]]></category> <category><![CDATA[effects of Covid on children]]></category> <category><![CDATA[parenthood]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80258</guid> <description><![CDATA[Paediatrician, Associate Professor Margie Danchin provides expert advice. Recently the New South Wales Coroner confirmed that COVID-19 was responsible for the death of a 2-month-old baby back in December 2021. This news comes after the death of a previously healthy 2-year-old in mid-March 2022. It’s understood the baby is Australia’s youngest COVID victim and while […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Paediatrician, Associate Professor Margie Danchin provides expert advice.</p> <p>Recently the New South Wales Coroner confirmed that COVID-19 was responsible for the death of a 2-month-old baby back in December 2021. This news comes after the death of a previously healthy 2-year-old in mid-March 2022. It’s understood the baby is Australia’s youngest COVID victim and while death and serious illness are rare among children, parents want to know what they should do if their child gets the virus.</p> <p>Associate Professor Margie Danchin is a Paediatrician specialising in immunisation at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.</p> <h4 id="h-have-we-underestimated-the-impact-of-the-virus-on-children"><strong>Have we underestimated the impact of the virus on children?</strong></h4> <p>We know that most children in fact, do experience either very mild symptoms or even asymptomatic infection, but severe disease does still happen in children. And they may need admission to hospital, and some can become severely unwell, especially if they have certain underlying medical conditions. We do need to be aware that COVID can be severe in children and we need to focus on getting eligible children vaccinated.</p> <h4><strong>Are we vaccinating at a high enough rate in the five to 11 age group?</strong></h4> <p>Vaccination coverage in the primary school age children, for one dose is around 56/57% nationally and about 12% for two doses. So, we’ve got a long way to go in terms of the coverage that we’ve achieved in the adult population. For 16-year-olds and over, it’s now 95% for two doses. But having said that, internationally, we’re doing very well. We’re on par with Canada and countries like the USA and the UK are far behind our coverage here in Australia.</p> <h4><strong>But that’s cold comfort if kids are going to get infected. What about the vaccine safety profile in kids?</strong></h4> <p>The safety profile is excellent in primary school age children. The common and expected side effects occur less frequently than in teenagers and young adults, and we have not seen a vaccine safety signal for myocarditis or inflammation of the heart, which we were concerned about having seen that after the second dose in teenagers, particularly young men. We have not seen that in primary school age children and in fact, the risk of myocarditis is one tenth that of the teenage age group. So that’s good news for parents.</p> <h4><strong>It’s going to be a while before we have vaccines available for the under fives and yet we’ve got such a surge on with many thousands of cases in Australia. What can parents do to protect their younger children, if anything?</strong></h4> <p>That’s right. The under fives don’t yet have a vaccine available, although we do hope that will happen in the next three to six months and we’ve seen a recent announcement from Moderna seeking approval in the FDA for the under sixers. So hopefully a vaccine is on the horizon, but in terms of parents caring for younger children, the most important thing is to make sure that children are drinking enough, that we keep up their fluids, that we use Panadol or Nurofen to treat any fever and that they get lots of rest and sleep.<br>And importantly, we really need to look out for any more serious signs of infection, which is usually listlessness, difficulty breathing, very high fever. Those children need to see a doctor and potentially go to hospital for further treatment.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80258</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Additional COVID-19 vaccine now recommended for vulnerable Australians</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/additional-covid-19-vaccine-now-recommended-for-vulnerable-australians/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2022 05:56:45 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Booster shots to covid vaccines]]></category> <category><![CDATA[coronavirus (COVID-19)]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Covid-19 Vaccines]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80262</guid> <description><![CDATA[Some Australians can receive their fourth — and in some cases, their fifth dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. In Australia, since Omicron has appeared there have been several waves of COVID infections, hospitalisations and deaths. Depending on what happens with variants this could get worse during the winter months. New subvariants of Omicron are appearing […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Some Australians can receive their fourth — and in some cases, their fifth dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.</p> <p>In Australia, since Omicron has appeared there have been several waves of COVID infections, hospitalisations and deaths. Depending on what happens with variants this could get worse during the winter months.</p> <p>New subvariants of Omicron are appearing regularly, and the latest at the time of writing being BA 4 which is thought to have arisen in someone infected at the same time from BA 1 and BA 3 where the viruses exchanged genes. BA 4 is not thought to be more contagious or dangerous than BA 1 or 2. </p> <p><a href="https://www.health.gov.au/news/atagi-statement-on-recommendations-on-a-winter-booster-dose-of-covid-19-vaccine" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) has recommended a winter booster jab</a> for the most vulnerable Australians. People aged over 65, those who are immunocompromised and Indigenous Australians over 50’s, are encouraged to receive the booster four to six months after they have had their third shot, based on medical advice. People who live in aged care or disability care facilities and people aged 16 and over who have been deemed severely immunocompromised are also eligible.</p> <p>Vaccines are going to continue playing the key role. At the time of writing, 86% of Australians had received their 1st vaccine dose; 82% their second dose; and almost 50% their third dose.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80262</post-id> </item> <item> <title>Influenza could be bad this year. What does it mean for your practice?</title> <link>https://www.mydr.com.au/influenza-could-be-bad-this-year-what-does-it-mean-for-your-practice/</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[myDr]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2022 05:56:29 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Practice Connect]]></category> <category><![CDATA[coronavirus (COVID-19)]]></category> <category><![CDATA[influenza]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Influenza immunisation]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.mydr.com.au/?p=80265</guid> <description><![CDATA[Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly has recently warned Australia is likely to see an increase in flu cases this winter and has encouraged people to get the flu injection. This comes at a busy time for many practices as you are also trying to administer the additional COVID-19 vaccine to vulnerable people and keep on […]]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p>Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly has recently warned Australia is likely to see an increase in flu cases this winter and has encouraged people to get the flu injection.</p> <p>This comes at a busy time for many practices as you are also trying to administer the additional COVID-19 vaccine to vulnerable people and keep on top of business as usual activities.</p> <p>Over the past two years, flu infection rates have been low in the community due to border closures, lockdowns and social distancing rules. </p> <p>We haven’t had much circulating flu for us to be naturally boosted and a greater proportion of people haven’t had a flu vaccine, leading to waned immunity. It is estimated that Australia has an under vaccinated population of between 20% – 30% due to the pandemic.</p> <p>There are concerns cases will jump in coming months, along with an increase in COVID-19 cases. </p> <p>In additional to the vulnerable populations, experts also believe that we may have to keep a close eye on young children this winter who may not have had exposure to the flu or received a flu injection. This cohort could be at increased risk of contracting flu and become very unwell.</p> <h4><strong>Testing for COVID-19 and the flu </strong></h4> <p>Work is underway to try and devise a single test that would check if a person has COVID-19 or the flu at the same time. Deputy Chief Medical Officer Sonya Bennett said it would help provide faster diagnosis and care. </p> <p>“We are hoping that will be in place during winter, it might not be in place at the beginning of winter, but certainly I would expect we would be seeing multiplex testing in hospitals and for those at risk by mid-winter,” she said. </p> <h4 id="h-could-we-see-flurona"><strong>Could we see ‘flurona’</strong>?</h4> <p>We may also see dual infections – when someone has COVID and influenza at the same time – sometimes dubbed “flurona”.</p> <p>While this has occurred, the rates of dual infections globally have been low based on the limited research. Generally, <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2021.681469/full">under 1% of people</a> with COVID also have influenza at the same time. Even with dual infections, people do not seem to be sicker than if they had COVID alone. Although the importance of such co-infection, especially in high-risk individuals and the elderly, cannot be ignored.</p> <h4><strong>Useful Resources</strong><strong></strong></h4> <p>Thanks to our friends at Cubiko, below are some additional resources that your practice may wish to access regarding preparing for flu season:</p> <ul><li><strong><a href="https://www.racgp.org.au/download/Documents/Guidelines/Flukit/pandemic-flu-kit.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RACGP Pandemic Influenza Toolkit</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/infectioncontrol/healthcaresettings.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Prevention Strategies for Influenza in Healthcare</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.racgp.org.au/running-a-practice/practice-standards/standards-5th-edition/infection-prevention-and-control" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Infection Control</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.racgp.org.au/FSDEDEV/media/documents/Running%20a%20practice/Practice%20standards/5th%20edition/Cold-chain-management.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cold Chain Management</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/national-vaccine-storage-guidelines-strive-for-5" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Vaccine Storage Guidelines ‘Strive for 5’</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.health.gov.au/initiatives-and-programs/covid-19-vaccines/is-it-true/is-it-true-do-i-have-to-wait-between-getting-the-influenza-flu-and-covid-19-vaccine" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Administering COVID-19 and Influenza Same Day</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.cubiko.com.au/blog/how-cubiko-helps-you-deliver-the-flu-vaccines/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cubiko blog: How Cubiko helps you deliver the flu vaccine</a></strong></li></ul> ]]></content:encoded> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">80265</post-id> </item> </channel> </rss> ' $parser = object(SimplePie_Parser) { error_code => null error_string => null current_line => (int) 430 current_column => (int) 1 current_byte => (int) 31751 separator => '' namespace => array( (int) 0 => '' ) element => array( (int) 0 => '' ) xml_base => array( (int) 0 => '' ) xml_base_explicit => array( (int) 0 => false ) xml_lang => array( (int) 0 => '' ) data => array( 'child' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) datas => array( (int) 0 => array([maximum depth reached]) ) current_xhtml_construct => (int) -1 encoding => 'UTF-8' }SimplePie::init() - APP/webroot/scripts/simple_pie/simplepie.inc, line 1781 include - APP/View/Elements/right_rssbox.ctp, line 15 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Users/login.ctp, line 44 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 963 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 96
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