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#GPnews: Pork from unnamed supermarket may have led to spike in hepititis E cases

16:10 A lovely piece from the Daily Mash satirical website. It reports that Professor Stephen Hawking has discovered the densest thing in the whole universe, which is ’located in the centre of London and looks like a six foot tall weasel’. The professor apparently told the website: ’It’s also the first black hole that appears to be wholly owned by private health care providers.’

At least, we think it is satirical…

For Pulse’s version on this story, read here

12:50 An unnamed UK supermarket may have sold pork products that infected shoppers with hepititis E. 

Public Health England researchers found that the consumption of ham and sausages from one store was a recurring feature. They have not named the store.

The Guardian among others reported that PHE said in a report that the strain had  not been detected in British pigs, and infections could be the result of eating products made outside the UK.

PHE has said there has been an ’increase in the number of non-travel cases’ of the hepatitis E, with figures showing infections have risen from from 368 in 2010 to 1,243 in 2016.

9:20 In case you missed it over the weekend, the health secretary’s continued belief in the ‘weekend effect’ – that more people die in hospital over the weekend due to fewer staff – has led him into a row with Professor Stephen Hawking over the professor’s ability to read the evidence.

If you remember, the health secretary was attacked on all sides for his claim, which was based on a misreading of a Lancet study – which concluded: ’Together, these findings suggest that the weekend effect arises from patient-level differences at admission rather than reduced hospital staffing or services.’

However, Mr Hunt said that Professor Hawking was wrong to echo the authors’ sentiments:

He then later accused Professor Hawking of peddling a ‘pernicious falsehood’ by claiming the NHS is being privatised:

Accusing one of the foremost academics in the UK of fialing to understand evidence is a courageous approach, we’ll  give the health secretary that…