Search

Presents letters to the editor on medical topics as of March 23, 2002. Suggestion that measles, mumps rubella (MMR) vaccine uptake may be lower than reported across England; Possible use of physician assistants in Great Britain; Improvement of outcomes in depression; Issue of risky drinking among men and women; Others.

It is not known whether employees who have diabetes mellitus lose more time from work due to sickness than non-diabetic employees. A study was undertaken to compare sickness absence in 91 diabetic with 91 non-diabetic employees matched for sex, age, and occupation. Although sickness absence was greater in the diabetic group this was not significant. Mean sickness absence for the diabetic employees and controls was 32 v 20 days/year (95% confidence interval -5 to 29 days). Because of the large variability in sickness absence in both diabetic and non-diabetic employees, a study of this size is probably not sufficiently powerful to detect a difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the start of 2018, multiple incidents of dog illnesses were reported following consumption of marine species washed up onto the beaches of eastern England after winter storms. Over a two-week period, nine confirmed illnesses including two canine deaths were recorded. Symptoms in the affected dogs included sickness, loss of motor control, and muscle paralysis. Samples of flatfish, starfish, and crab from the beaches in the affected areas were analysed for a suite of naturally occurring marine neurotoxins of dinoflagellate origin. Toxins causing paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) were detected and quantified using two independent chemical testing methods in samples of all three marine types, with concentrations over 14,000 µg saxitoxin (STX) eq/kg found in one starfish sample. Further evidence for PSP intoxication of the dogs was obtained with the positive identification of PSP toxins in a vomited crab sample from one deceased dog and in gastrointestinal samples collected post mortem from a second affected dog. Together, this is the first report providing evidence of starfish being implicated in a PSP intoxication case and the first report of PSP in canines., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflict of interest.

It is not known whether employees who have diabetes mellitus lose more time from work due to sickness than non-diabetic employees. A study was undertaken to compare sickness absence in 91 diabetic with 91 non-diabetic employees matched for sex, age, and occupation. Although sickness absence was greater in the diabetic group this was not significant. Mean sickness absence for the diabetic employees and controls was 32 v 20 days/year (95% confidence interval -5 to 29 days). Because of the large variability in sickness absence in both diabetic and non-diabetic employees, a study of this size is probably not sufficiently powerful to detect a difference.