Conjunctivitis, commonly called pink eye, is an inflammation of the conjunctiva—the clear tissue covering the eye's white part and the eyelids' inside. This condition can be caused by several factors, including bacterial infections and allergic reactions, leading to different types of conjunctivitis. Understanding the differences between bacterial and allergic conjunctivitis is crucial for individuals in the UK, where pollen levels can be high, and bacteria can spread quickly in close-contact environments like schools and workplaces. This knowledge helps ensure proper treatment, reduces the risk of spreading infections, and allows for more effective management of symptoms.

Flu is the common name for illness caused by the influenza virus. It brings on headache, muscle ache, sore throat, runny nose and cough. It's much worse than the common cold, often requiring a few days in bed, struggling with fever, poor appetite, and feeling very tired and drained. It comes in the winter, it's highly contagious and most people have experienced it at one time or another. If you're healthy, you have a miserable 2 to 7 days, then get better and back to normal life. The risk comes to those who are elderly or have ongoing medical conditions. It can also hit those with suppressed immune systems hard, either from conditions or medication. It causes inflammation in the lungs and airways, leading to breathing problems, pneumonia and even death. Antibiotics won't help as they don't work on viruses, only bacteria. Your immune system will fight it off, and you may need intravenous fluids and oxygen if you are admitted to hospital.

With the rise of COVID-19, we’ve had to grapple with a whole new scientific vocabulary. Herd immunity (or community immunity) is often mentioned, but what does it really mean? We’ll explain that in relation to the COVID-19 vaccine and other vaccines. Herd immunity means enough of a population is immune to a specific infectious disease (a pathogen such as a virus or bacteria) that it stops the spread. If the virus fails to spread from person to person, fewer people will get unwell and die. And the pathogen will fall to very low levels. Immunity can come from catching the disease and building antibodies: these have a memory that means the next time you meet the pathogen, your immune system recognises it and rapidly kicks into action to defeat it, and you avoid serious illness or death. This is known as natural immunity. The vaccine also gives immunity. In a similar way, it teaches your immune system to recognise the pathogen and build memory cells, so it’s primed to fight off any future invasions. This is desirable if the disease carries a high risk of serious illness or death, such as COVID-19. But natural immunity is preferred for something like the common cold, as it’s not a serious disease, so they haven’t developed a vaccine.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a very common ailment, and every sufferer has their own particular set of symptoms and triggers. As it commonly starts in your 20s and 30s, it will be most people’s first experience of dealing with a long-term condition. Physical symptoms – abdominal pain, bloating or altered bowel habit – can dominate consultations with your doctor, and, indeed, can impose on daily life. But sometimes the mental health side of IBS can get sidelined, when attention to your psychological needs can actually improve symptoms. Recognising that there is a huge mental health burden is the first step, and taking measures to protect yourself is the next. Here we dig into these in more detail, to keep yourself as well as you can.

Quinsy describes a pocket of infection just next to one of your two tonsils at the back of your throat. Also called a peritonsillar abscess, it’s caused by bacteria and occurs as a rare complication of tonsillitis. It is mainly seen in young people from teenagers up to mid twenty's. It can be serious and requires hospitalisation to treat. Symptoms to look out for are a sudden worsening sore throat that can be one-sided, which may cause difficulty swallowing or opening your mouth. This can lead to drooling, bad breath, pain in the ear on the side of the quinsy, and you may speak at a very low volume or with minimum movement of the mouth. A high fever usually accompanies this and it is likely you’ll feel unwell.

As we learn to live alongside COVID-19, it can be hard to tease apart the threat it poses to us, and this can depend on many factors – age, sex, ethnicity, health condition. Will it feel like a simple cold or will I end up in hospital? Add the fact that you’re pregnant into the equation, and confusion reigns. In the simplest terms, the risk to pregnant women is low. However, when compared to people of your age and gender, the risk if raised and this is for both becoming unwell enough to need hospital treatment, and of needing intensive care support. This risk is much reduced if you are in good health, and significantly reduced if you are fully vaccinated. The doctors here at Healthwords follow guidance from the NHS and the UK government, in advising you that getting fully vaccinated in pregnancy offers the best protection for you and your baby. Real-world data suggests that pregnant women who are unvaccinated are significantly more likely to end up seriously unwell or needing hospital care than those who are vaccinated. Your baby may also risk being born prematurely if you contract COVID-19.

A sore throat is hard to ignore, as it affects us when we speak, eat and drink – even simply swallowing can bring on pain. Sore throats are common, and most improve with time and without any intervention. It can be hard to know when to sit it out and when there's reason to worry. First stop, you can assess your own throat, and it’s good to get to know it when you’re well. If you look in the mirror and open wide, perhaps with the help of a torch, you’ll see a high double arch at the back with a little boxing bag in the middle – this is the uvula, flanked on either side by the soft immune tissue of the tonsils. The black hole in the middle reaches the pharynx, the back of the nose and throat and extends down to the larynx (voice box) then onwards to both the airways and lungs, and to the oesophagus (food pipe) and stomach. The back of the throat should be a uniform light to medium pink colour. If it’s red, or with bloody spots, white or yellow spots, this is abnormal. If one or both tonsils look enlarged and red, with the hole in the middle looking squished or smaller, it’s likely you’re fighting off an infection as part of your immune response. This is called tonsillitis. You can’t see further than your tonsils – the pharynx, larynx and vocal cords are unseen in the very back of the throat, and only visible via a special camera on a wire, called an endoscope.

When COVID-19 first emerged, infections followed a consistent pattern with three main symptoms: a continuous dry cough, fever and a loss in sense of taste or smell. The infection has now morphed into different symptoms, as new variants of the virus have emerged, and as most people are fully vaccinated.

Threadworms are very common in children, but rare in adults. They are a parasite that passes from faeces to hands to mouth and is incredibly contagious. This infection causes intense itching around the bottom and sometimes the vagina, especially at night – the need to scratch may even disturb your child’s sleep. You might notice tiny white worms around your child’s anus when they are active at night, laying eggs, or mixed in their poo.

Group A streptococcus (or group A strep) is a type of bacterium (germ) that commonly lives on our skin or in our nose and throat. Many of us carry this bacteria but never become ill. Strep A infections vary in severity from very mild - such as throat infections - to severe such as pneumonia, but fortunately most can be treated with antibiotics. How do I catch Strep A? Many people carry group A Strep without realising it - it causes no problems and they remain well and don’t develop any illness. It can be passed from person to person by close contact with someone who has Strep A such as by kissing or from skin to skin contact. Strep A can also sometimes be spread through food if someone infected with group A strep prepares or serves food which is then shared. Who’s most at risk from Strep A? Although most people exposed to Strep A have either no symptoms or mild ones, you’re more likely to be at risk from it if you: have close contact with someone with Strep A are older than 65 are diabetic have heart disease or cancer have recently had chickenpox have HIV have a weakened immune system or take long-term steroids

Long COVID describes the ongoing symptoms people feel after infection with COVID-19 and refers to ongoing symptoms of COVID-19 four to 12 weeks after the initial infection started. Post COVID-19 syndrome refers to signs and symptoms that develop during or after COVID-19, continue for more than 12 weeks, and are not explained by an alternative diagnosis. Recovery from COVID-19 infection differs from person to person. For many, the common symptoms of COVID-19 will resolve within a few weeks. We don’t yet know why, but some people are left with symptoms a long time after initial symptoms of the infection have improved. Severe illness with COVID-19 doesn’t necessarily make people more likely to get longstanding symptoms. We haven’t yet found any links between the severity of COVID-19 symptoms and the chance of getting longstanding symptoms, and there remains a lot that we still don’t know.

We've been sitting in our surgeries recently and getting lots of questions about the flu vaccine. The roll-out happens every year, and lots of people are up-to-date with most of the general information surrounding it. Now and again we get asked questions that keep us on our toes, and we've collated these here for your interest. First up is how long it takes to gain protection after having the vaccination. Like all vaccinations, the flu jab works by stimulating the immune system into a defence response. This does take time: the science suggests it can take 1 to 2 weeks until you are fully protected. Getting your vaccination early will ensure you are protected as soon as possible.