UKHSA launches new infectious disease data dashboard
The UK Health Security Agency has launched a new dashboard for infectious diseases, which will serve as a centralised source for infectious disease and outbreak data this winter, making it publicly available. The dashboard will be updated on Thursday each week.
It will initially feature the latest information on a number of respiratory diseases, including Covid-19, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, adenovirus, human metapneumovirus, parainfluenza and rhinovirus. Over time, the data dashboard will be expanded to provide additional health security data, including data relating to incidents of public interest.
High levels of influenza during winter 2022–2023 and outbreaks of a variety of infectious diseases highlighted the need for UKHSA to be alert to many health threats alongside Covid-19. The dashboard will allow the agency to share data on common winter illnesses that can severely impact communities and health services each year. UKHSA has announced the new phase of the SIREN study, SIREN 2.0. This study will see the team continue to work with NHS sites in the coming months to assess the impact that respiratory diseases and their new strains have on healthcare workers and settings. Data from additional winter surveillance of Covid-19 will also help UKHSA to track BA.2.86 and other variants and will feed into the new data dashboard.
Details of this additional surveillance will be announced shortly.
The dashboard can be found at: https://ukhsa-dashboard.data.gov.uk.
NICE says non-invasive weight loss procedure can be an option to treat obesity
A procedure that reduces the size of the stomach to help people lose weight has been deemed safe and effective to be used in the NHS, according to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).
Draft guidance states the evidence shows endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (ESG) is safe in the short and long term when combined with lifestyle changes and could help with weight loss in people with a BMI over 30, who have not lost weight with lifestyle modification alone, and who are not suitable or do not wish to undergo bariatric surgery.
NICE's interventional procedures advisory committee has reviewed the evidence behind ESG, which is minimally invasive, takes up to 90 minutes to complete, and patients can usually go home on the same day. The stomach is not cut or removed, and the procedure may be reversible. It could offer people an alternative to bariatric surgery.
The aim is to reduce the volume of the stomach and therefore limit the amount of food which can be eaten at one time. Published clinical trial research found 59 (77%) of 77 participants lost 25% or more of their original weight a year after having the procedure.
Professor Jonathan Benger, Chief Medical Officer at NICE, said: ‘We know people who live with obesity or who are overweight are more likely to be at risk of other conditions such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension or cardiovascular disease.
‘A procedure which helps to reduce a person's weight is one way to lower the risk of developing these conditions, and to improve overall health and wellbeing.
‘Our committee has found endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty for people living with obesity to be a safe and effective procedure which can reduce the size of the stomach and therefore make them feel fuller on a smaller amount of food.
‘One of the benefits is that this procedure can be carried out as a day case, and not involve an overnight stay, reducing the time people spend in hospital compared with other surgical options. Recovery is also quicker. Surgical treatment options are in high demand and not everyone wants, or is fit enough, to undergo an operation like bariatric surgery. A non-invasive procedure like endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty could be a welcomed new option for some people.’
The NICE guideline on obesity includes recommendations involving dietary advice, exercise, lifestyle changes and medication.
Bariatric surgery is recommended as a treatment option in some people who have a BMI of 40 or more. It can be offered to those who have a BMI between 35 and 39.9 who have other significant diseases such as type 2 diabetes and have attempted to lose weight using other methods but these have failed.
It is also considered at a lower BMI than in other populations for people of Asian family background who have recent-onset type 2 diabetes.
A consultation on the draft recommendations has begun at www.nice.org.uk and will run until Thursday 26 October 2023.