The county, nay the country, as a whole needs a sensible policy steer on this vaccine before the 'flu season' of 1996. The DH guidance on who should receive pneumovax is presented as a list of eight groups. To define more tightly those who would benefit materially from pneumovax, I am approaching consultants in the major medical specialties for their views on who of their patients is at material risk of invasive pneumococcal disease. I am adopting this criterion, rather than the looser one of persons who would simply fare worse than average should they develop invasive pneumococcal disease, so that we confer the greatest benefit for the given scale of endeavour. Once the consultations are complete, I will circulate some guidance.
National policy remains unchanged.
The DoH will be circulating patient information leaflets later in the year. Extended scheme for diagnosis of fever-rash syndromes in children I wrote about this a couple of issues back under the heading 'Extended Salivary IgM testing'. Most of the preliminary work is done now. I am hoping that Suffolk will contribute about 200 cases to the study over the year, but we have decided that rather than trying to get two or three from each practice, it would be better to get 20 from each of 10 practices. I know that you can feel excitement rising in your breast already at the prospect of being asked to participate, so I have composed a sheet on the scheme and what it involves.