The Health News United Kingdom August 22 2017

Overview

• Young people on average spend 3-5 hours each day online among 15 to 16 year-olds. This trend must be acknowledged to harness the potential of online content and digital technology to promote good outcomes.e.
• Lyme disease is a bacterial infection, passed on to humans by infected ticks. Former England rugby player Matt Dawson was bitten by a tick early last year, which led to multiple heart surgeries and long-term medication.
  
• In 2018, non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) will be offered to pregnant mothers in Wales to have a safer and more accurate test for Down’s syndrome. NIPT aims to better inform women of the risks of having a child with the genetic disorder.

News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 22nd of August 2017. Read by Tabetha Moreto. Health News

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/duncan-sim/social-media-social-mental-health_b_17796586.html

Research has found that young people on average spend three hours each day online, rising to almost five hours among fifteen to sixteen year-olds. This trend must be acknowledged, and more done to harness the potential of online content and digital technology to promote good outcomes. Young people’s online engagement represents an opportunity to develop advice and support services in line with and responsive to their needs and expectations of those services. For example, many young people with mental health worries are reluctant to use traditional community-based support in physical NHS buildings, wary of the stigma which can be attached to these services among their peer group. Support offered in the privacy of an online setting can avoid this difficulty.

Technology allows young people to access help in a format and at a time and place which suits them. A greater emphasis on digital support could mean young people accessing support earlier, catching nascent mental health issues before they can develop into more significant problems further down the line. Allowing young people to take control of the support they receive, by putting online help in their hands, is not only a worthwhile goal in its own right but may also achieve better outcomes for the system as a whole. Government has already begun to move in this direction, having allocated five hundred thousand pounds to develop digital tools and apps focusing on improving mental health.

Some social media firms have suffered negative press in recent years over suggestions that they are not fully meeting their UK tax obligations; our recommendation by contrast offers a way for them to demonstrate their commitment to securing the UK’s social good.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-40973709

When former England rugby player Matt Dawson was bitten by a tick in a London park early last year, it caused a bacterial infection to spread through his body.”I had two days where I felt awful. Very feverish, on the sofa, crashed out,” he said. Eventually he went to hospital where he was diagnosed with Lyme disease. Lyme disease is a bacterial infection, passed on to humans by infected ticks. While it is difficult to estimate the total number of UK cases, they are understood to have increased more than fourfold in the past ten years. The peak season is April to October, though they are active all year round. Here are the symptoms of Lyme Disease:  In around two-thirds of cases, a distinctive rash called erythema migrans will develop in the days to weeks that follow the tick bite;  It is often shaped like a bullseye, but not in all cases, and some individuals will have several rather than one;  Flu-like symptoms are another strong indicator of Lyme disease; Facial palsy is common in children;  Others may experience tingling or numbness in parts of the body and, rarely, severe headaches.
If you get these symptoms and have also been bitten by a tick – or been out in a tick hotspot – then it is worth talking to your doctor. If left untreated, early localised Lyme can attack the nervous system and cause debilitating neurological problems. However, if you receive prompt antibiotic treatment, it can successfully treat the disease and prevent further illness. Matt Dawson has now joined forces with The Big Tick Project, which looks to raise awareness about the dangers of ticks and tick-borne disease in the UK.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-politics-40999307

A safer and more accurate test for Down’s syndrome is to be introduced for pregnant mothers in Wales, the Welsh Government has announced. Non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) will be offered from two thousand eighteen. The decision by the Welsh Government follows moves in England to do the same. Public Health Minister Rebecca Evans said ministers wanted to ensure every expectant mother in Wales receives the information and support they need.
The new blood test – while not offering a complete diagnosis – aims to better inform women of the risks of having a child with the genetic disorder. It is more accurate than current antenatal screening, which estimates the chance that pregnant women have of having a baby with Down’s syndrome.

It is expected one to two babies per year in Wales will be saved from miscarriage as a result of the introduction of NIPT, which will be offered as an additional option for women found to have a higher risk of having a child with Down’s syndrome.Only the invasive test can give a confirmed diagnosis, however. Women who are given a positive NIPT test would not be able to opt for a termination based on that result alone. Public Health Minister, Rebecca Evans said a negative NIPT result will offer pregnant women reassurance without the need for a further invasive diagnostic test – “reducing the unnecessary harm from miscarriage that can be caused through the use of these tests”.

The roll-out of the test will be evaluated after three years in line with recommendations from the UK and Wales screening committees, Welsh Government said.