Doctors given no clear guidance on Swine Fever

Today is one of those days when family doctors want to retire to a darkened room and put an ice pack on their head. Over breakfast, I saw the newspaper headline: "Swine flu deaths spark worldwide health alert".

writes Dr Crippen in this morning's Guardian.

The said Dr Crippin blogs at his excellent NHS Blog Doctor Blog and is rather worried about the response to Swine Fever

I have not been "alerted". None of my partners has been "alerted" either. There is a general assumption that GPs will already have received definitive guidance from on high. No such guidance has arrived.

he continues

and concludes

Pigs may not be able to fly, but the human carriers of the influenza A H1N1, as modified by the pigs, have already flown.
A few years ago we were all worried about bird flu. That was a storm in a teacup. This will probably be a minor, self-limiting outbreak. But I do not know for certain. Nor does anyone else.