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This is my take on the medical and health issues of the day, especially those involving research and ethics
14:45 UK time, Tuesday, 7 February 2012
About 1,000 private patients with PIP breast implants have contacted the NHS in England.
The figure was given by Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS Medical Director, in evidence to the Commons Health Select Committee.
17:35 UK time, Tuesday, 31 January 2012
A group which advises the US government on biosecurity has explained why it wants two research papers on H5N1 bird flu to be censored.
Two scientific research teams have modified influenza strains to create mutant avian influenza viruses that can be transmitted efficiently between mammals. In one case, the virus remained highly pathogenic.
16:55 UK time, Monday, 30 January 2012
Politicians, health experts and drug companies have agreed a plan to combat 10 neglected tropical diseases over the next decade.
They aim to eliminate diseases such as leprosy and Guinea worm and drastically reduce cases of others, including river blindness and schistosomiasis.
17:49 UK time, Thursday, 26 January 2012
There are 40,000 individual stories from the women in Britain with PIP implants.
Debbie Lewis is one of them and she agreed to let us film her replacement surgery.
10:53 UK time, Tuesday, 24 January 2012
After more than a decade of waiting, the first results of a trial involving human embryonic stem cells have been published in a medical journal.
The Lancet reports how two women in the USA with eye disease were injected with stem cells and both apparently showed some slight improvement in vision. The company Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) says the patients are doing well four months on from the trial.
18:52 UK time, Wednesday, 11 January 2012
"Inspiring Confidence in You," says the poster in the reception of the Harley Medical Group clinic in central London.
But in my view the firm's refusal to replace the implants of women who it fitted with PIP implants will hardly do that.
15:59 UK time, Wednesday, 11 January 2012
More evidence has emerged of the conflicting benefits and risks of aspirin.
An analysis of nine medical trials involving over 100,000 people without a history of cardiovascular disease found that aspirin was more likely to do them harm than good.
20:10 UK time, Friday, 6 January 2012
The government position on the safety of PIP implants has not changed, but there has been a dramatic shift in the way it is dealing with this issue.
The reason is the committee advising the Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has said the anxiety women may be experiencing has to be taken into account.
18:32 UK time, Tuesday, 3 January 2012
I would urge caution over some of the figures for rupture rates of the banned PIP breast implants.
In the past few days there have been claims suggesting that around 7% of the implants have ruptured.
15:32 UK time, Saturday, 31 December 2011
Now that the Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has ordered a review of the safety data on the banned PIP breast implants, we may be closer to solving a puzzle.
The puzzle is this - why did the French medical watchdog find that the implants have a 5% rupture rate, whereas the equivalent body here, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), found a 1% rupture rate - no worse than other makes?
20:21 UK time, Friday, 23 December 2011
There will be many women left confused and worried about latest developments over French breast implants.
The implants by French firm Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) were banned last year when it emerged the company had used a non-medical grade silicone filler.
17:30 UK time, Tuesday, 20 December 2011
In a darkened conference room in Malta in September, a Dutch scientist announced to a virology meeting that he had created a mutated strain of H5N1 bird flu which had the potential to spread between humans.
Dr Ron Fouchier, from the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, said his team had introduced a number of genetic variations - around five - which had enabled the virus to pass between ferrets - the best animal model we have for testing whether the virus will infect humans.
13:14 UK time, Tuesday, 13 December 2011
We all like reports of dramatic medical and scientific breakthroughs but the reality is that most developments are incremental. As a result, important issues can get overlooked.
Take malaria. Deaths from the parasitic infection - which is spread by the bites of infected mosquitoes - have been falling steadily since around 2004. Only a few years ago it was said that the disease killed one child every 30 seconds. I remember using this figure on a trip to Ghana in 2006. By 2009 the estimate was down to one child dying every 45 seconds.
10:31 UK time, Monday, 5 December 2011
There has been widespread speculation about how David Cameron plans to accelerate drug development for NHS patients.
One newspaper headline talked of plans to share patient records with private health care companies, "including some that use animals in clinical tests". It spoke to an unnamed senior executive of a drugs company which it described as "well-known for animal testing".
12:33 UK time, Tuesday, 29 November 2011
A severely disabled 57 year old man is to ask a High Court judge to allow a doctor to end his life. Tony Nicklinson issued proceedings in a case which will challenge the law on murder.
Mr Nicklinson was paralysed from the neck down following a stroke in 2005 and left with "locked-in syndrome". He is unable to speak and communicates by nodding his head at letters on a board or by using a computer which responds to eye movements.
16:24 UK time, Thursday, 24 November 2011
The Department of Health has decided to change the vaccine it uses to protect girls against cervical cancer throughout the UK.
From September next year it will use the Gardasil jab, which also offers protection against genital warts - one of the most common sexually transmitted infections.
14:16 UK time, Thursday, 24 November 2011
The future of healthcare, the medical profession and clinical trials in the UK were all subjects for discussion at the Academy of Medical Sciences.
The President, Prof Sir John Bell was there with his successor, Prof Sir John Tooke, who takes over the role tomorrow.
17:06 UK time, Friday, 18 November 2011
Ever since I've been reporting on science and health, there have been dire warnings of a return to the pre-antibiotic era.
"Resistance to antibiotics and other anti-infective agents constitutes a major threat to public health, and ought to be recognised as such more widely than it is at present."
12:39 UK time, Tuesday, 15 November 2011
The world's first official trial using human embryonic stem cells in patients has been halted.
Geron, based in California, made the sudden announcement that it was halting further work in this field.
01:44 UK time, Thursday, 10 November 2011
The thought of being trapped in a lifeless body, unable to communicate, is a terrifying prospect. It happened to Roy Hayim, a surveyor, who became dangerously ill after eating an airline meal.
Mr Hayim contracted botulism, a rare bacterial infection.
Fergus began working for the BBC in 1984 and has reported on health, science and medicine for nearly twenty years.
He has reported for the BBC from around the world on topics such as stem cells, obesity, HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB, polio and swine flu.
Fergus has had all his genes sequenced, his heart, brain and other body parts scanned, as well as being vaccinated against bird flu for TV news reports.
He appeared in a BBC TV drama with Julie Walters. He didn’t win any awards for his acting, but has won several for his journalism.
Tom Feilden
Science correspondent, Today programme
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