Travel health update

Information from back issues of Vaccine Update is now much more accessible, thanks to a new searchable index. Plus updates on tick-borne encephalitis virus, the Rabies Immunoglobulin Service and travel health education

VACCINE UPDATE MILESTONE

Public Health England (PHE) published the 300th edition of Vaccine Update at the end of October and what a bumper edition it was! This publication has gone from strength to strength – amazing to realise it went online back in January 2007 at edition 131, before which we received it in printed format. This special edition is all about bugs and celebrates the role that the laboratories have in monitoring, surveillance and cover as well as identification of serotypes and outbreaks of notifiable diseases across the country. It makes for very interesting reading. And a gem on page 14 is news of the creation of a searchable index so that you can find information more easily about vaccine guidance, policy and programme implementation from previous issues of Vaccine Update. Having tried out this digital download tool I found it to be very exciting! You can do a word search or scroll down the A-Z index for topics as well. For example, high up in the index is ‘air bubbles’. Click the link and it takes you directly to Vaccine Update issue 222 indicating to go to page 2, where it says ‘You shouldn’t get rid of the air bubble. To try to expel it risks accidentally expelling some of the vaccine and therefore not giving the patient the full dose. The air bubble is also there for a reason – the air injected into the muscle forms an airlock preventing the medication seeping out along the needle tract into subcutaneous tissue and onto the skin. The small bolus of air injected following administration of medication clears the needle and prevents a localised reaction from the vaccination’. See https://www.healthpublications.gov.uk/ViewArticle.html?sp=Svaccineupdateindex and from here you can link to other great pages of resources too.

TICK-BORNE ENCEPHALITIS VIRUS (TBEV) FOUND IN THE UK

PHE has confirmed that TBE has been detected in a small number of ticks in two areas of the UK, Thetford Forest and on the border between Hampshire and Dorset. PHE reported that a European visitor became ill after being bitten by a tick in the New Forest area. This was considered to be a highly probable case of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), however to date, no other cases of TBE considered likely to have been acquired in the UK have been identified. The risk from TBEV is currently assessed as very low for the general population. I imagine this may prompt our patients to ask a number of questions. It is therefore important that we are aware of the disease, its prevention and also the safe removal of ticks. See the NaTHNaC factsheet at https://travelhealthpro.org.uk/factsheet/22/tick-borne-encephalitis. A short film about ticks and how to avoid them is available on the BBC website at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-50206382 and PHE has some good toolkit resources at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tick-bite-risks-and-prevention-of-lyme-disease#history

NEW TELEPHONE NUMBER FOR RigS

The PHE Rabies immunoglobulin Service has a new telephone helpline number for those practising in England and dealing with a post exposure risk in a traveller or someone who has been exposed to a bat in the UK. The number to ring now is 0330 128 1020, or you can contact your local Health Protection Team which you can find at https://www.gov.uk/health-protection-team The full details for contact for the whole of the UK can be found in a number of publications at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/rabies-risk-assessment-post-exposure-treatment-management but also look specifically from point 5 onwards at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rabies-risks-for-travellers/rabies-information-for-travellers

EDUCATION UPDATE

I’ve been busy over the past month updating both my Malaria Matters course and a resource for rabies both accessed via https://www.janechiodini.co.uk/education/online-learning/ and I’ve also published some new dates for my 2020 training at https://www.janechiodini.co.uk/education/ . I hope to see you at one of the events next year.