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Child throat infections seen in hospital, new hope for IVF and have we found a C Diff vaccine?

An increasing number of children with throat infections are being admitted to hospital, with a 76% rise in the past 10 years, according to a new study.

Researchers from Imperial College London suggested the main reason could be that parents are taking their children to A&E outside normal surgery hours instead of using GP out-of-hour services, the BBC said

However, Dr Elizabeth Koshy, lead study author, said the introduction of a four-hour maximum waiting time in A&E in 2002 could also have led under-pressure doctors to admit children with less serious throat infections as well.

The study, published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, looked at admission rates between 1999 and 2010. It found that admissions for throat infections rose from 12,283 in 1999 to 22,071 in 2010. The highest rates were among children aged between one and four years, followed by children aged under one.

Following that slightly downbeat study, two more bits of research offer us some cheer on a grey Monday morning.

The Daily Mail reports that scientists are working on an IVF process that could take ten years off a women’s fertility age.

The US treatment would give a 42-year-old woman the same chance of becoming pregnant as a 32-year-old, boosting their chance of success from 13% to 60%.

It works by picking only the embryos most likely to create a healthy foetus, and also involves the embryos being frozen for at least a month, allowing the woman’s reproductive organs to return to normal.

Finally, the Telegraphjam today reports that , which could be ready within five years.

Dr Simon Cutting, from the school of biological sciences at Royal Holloway University of London, has reportedly developed a vaccine that combines C. difficile with spores from a bacteria found naturally in the human gut.

‘We have found that our vaccine can produce full protection against the bacteria in animal models,’ he said. ‘We are now in discussions with drug companies and hope to begin initial safety trials in humans early next year.’