Medical matters with Jeremy Kenton

I'm Jeremy Kenton. Flu season has been mild this year thanks to the measures used to contain COVID-19, such as physical distancing, social distancing and mask wearing. And school and office closures have also contributed to the unusually inactive flu season. These mitigation measures have curbed influenza activity even though COVID-19 has surged. And obviously, COVID-19 is

far more contagious than flu. But because the virus that causes seasonal flu spreads via respiratory

droplets, the safety precautions used to prevent COVID-19, such as mask wearing and social distancing

have helped to cut down flu activity. Now, due to flu's short incubation period and widespread

population immunity, the measures used to stop the spread of COVID-19 have caused flu activity

to drastically drop. Now, the precautions used have reduced the transmission, and figures indicate throughout Europe a 98% reduction in serious flu cases

Now, both are respiratory infections that spread via aerosol droplets and any precautions taken to avoid COVID, but have also reduced the risk of contracting flu

Hand washing, important and wearing masks have certainly driven down the number of cases at the floor, and school and office

closures have led to a drop in the transmission. So remember that schools and offices are classic hot spots

for flu and this is reduced So this is why basically there is less flu around And a radioactive bone cement that injected into bone to provide support is proving to be a safer alternative to conventional radiotherapy

for bone tumours according to a study by the University of California. The study shows that this

brachy therapy cement can be placed into spinal bone to directly irradiate tumours without

harming the spinal cord and producing the standard nasty side effects that come about as a result of radiotherapy

The work has been done at the University of California and was presented at a conference only this week

And finally, high-tech cameras clip onto the toilet bowl and can monitor and speed up the detection of bowel cancer

Now, these things look like a toilet freshener, and the device is using imaging techniques to scan the bowel motion for traces of blood

a classic sign of bowel disease. And the findings are then transmitted to an app on the user smartphone

which then produces results, which can automatically be shared with the doctor

and speed up the diagnosis of bowel disease and colorectal cancer. So smartphones as a method of monitoring blood in your stool