As we head into the flu vaccination season, we provide a list of essential
information sources
Aventis Pasteur MSD
www.pmmsd.com
European vaccine expert and distributor of a range of vaccines and vaccine
combinations.
Consumer Health Information Centre
www.chic.org.uk
User-friendly site giving information on cold and flu remedies. A good site
to recommend to patients who want to know the difference between a cold and the
flu.
Department of Health
www.doh.gov.uk
Influenza Bibliography
Produced every one to two months as a current awareness service. This is an
academic site but contains useful information and background material.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease
www.niaid.nih.gov
Provides information on flu, including the mutation of virus strains and
vaccination guidelines.
National Institute for Clinical Excellence
www.nice.org.uk
The institute’s role is to provide patients, health professionals and the
public with authoratitive and reliable guidance on current best practice. Not
the easiest site to navigate, but worth persevering.
Flu Protection Programmes – Alliance Health
www.fluprotect.com
01249 466966
info@fluprotect.com
Provides resources and services for organisations seeking to protect their workforces
against flu. On-site flu protection programmes including: oral anti-viral
protection and vaccinations, education and promotion material, diagnostic aids,
protocols, enrolment/screening forms, helplines, doctor & nurse provision
and consultancy. To subscribe to the free weekly e-mail flu surveillance
service starting next month e-mail info@fluprotect.com
Public Health Service Laboratory Services
www.phsl.co.uk
Detailed site offering information on all aspects of public health. Includes
news and features on infectious diseases, a news archive and a wealth of
information about flu, including details of relevant publications, FAQs on flu,
factsheets and links to related sites worldwide.
World Health Organisation
www.who.int/emc/diseases/flu
The WHO’s Communicable Diseases Surveillance and Response site, this
includes details of FluNet, the WHO’s geographical information system to
monitor influenza activity worldwide. It also includes a factsheet on flu and
vaccines, and offers a wealth of information for anyone wanting a global
picture of flu.
As ever, BBC News Online provides the best up-to-the-minute news about flu
and flu vaccines. A second-to-none news source and has an efficient and
thorough search engine as well as invaluable links to other relevant news
sources.
An educational resource for the general public, the site offers everything a
health professional could want to know about flu viruses. It includes news
reports and background information from around the world, facts and figures,
international surveillance information, FAQs and links to related sites. It is
easy to navigate and provides some valuable links.
Brief site but nevertheless has some valuable information on flu and
vaccinations and links to other sites. It includes details of the symptoms,
causes, diagnosis and treatment of flu as well as news of development of
vaccines.
Quirky site offering useful background information about flu vaccinations,
who should be vaccinated, when the best time is for vaccinations to take place,
how vaccinations are produced, the safety of vaccinations, and whether health
workers should be vaccinated. It also gives useful advice about symptoms,
prevention and treatment of flu, as well as a page of old wives’ tales relating
to colds and flu. Non-academic and straightforward.
Compiled by Kate Rouy
This listing is not exhaustive and the journal welcomes further additions
from readers as well as suggestions for further topics of interest to include
in this series
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