HPR volume 10 issue 14: news (8 April)
Updated 16 December 2016
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1. Group A streptococcal infections: third update on seasonal activity
Public Health England continues to monitor notifications of scarlet fever cases in England following the high levels recorded last spring. According to the third update on group A streptococcus activity for the current season published in this issue of HPR [1,2]. Scarlet fever notifications continue to increase in line with the usual seasonal pattern, with current weekly totals exceeding the levels seen at this point last season. A possible tapering to a peak and the start of the seasonal downturn is, however, indicated.
Laboratory notifications of invasive group A streptococcal (iGAS) disease indicate elevated incidence particularly in children (under five years of age) and young adults (15-44 years).
1.1 References
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Group A streptococcal infections: third update on seasonal activity, 2015/2016. HPR 10(14): infection report
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‘Update on rising scarlet fever across England’. PHE website news story, 8 April 2016.
2. PHE launches new AMR Local Indicators Profile
Public Health England has launched a new online data resource – AMR Local Indicators Profile – available on the PHE Fingertips web portal [1,2]. The indicators are intended to raise awareness of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and to facilitate the development of local action plans. These data may be used in reference to policy documents such as the 2016/17 CQUIN [3] and the 2016/17 Quality Premium [4]. A user guide can be downloaded from the AMR local indicators landing page [2]
Data are available in five domains (antimicrobial resistance, antibiotic prescribing, healthcare associated infections, infection prevention and control, and antibiotic stewardship). The profile comprises a set of interactive tables, charts and maps, illustrating trends and regional variations in a number of AMR-related indicators for each of the domains. Data can be viewed a several geographical levels including acute trust, clinical commissioning group and GP practice.
Data for further indicators will be made available over the course of the year.