Do you really have a penicillin allergy?

您真的对青霉素过敏吗?

Health Check

2025-07-24

26 分钟
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单集简介 ...

Penicillin is the go-to antibiotic for many common infections - but in the UK more than 1-in-15 adults have a penicillin allergy label on their medical record. New research suggests that many with these labels are not actually allergic. Professor Sue Pavitt explains how more accurate allergy labelling might help fight the rise of antimicrobial resistance. Both Burundi and Senegal announced last week that they had eliminated trachoma. Dr Graham Easton walks us through the long road to this milestone. A passionate debate has caused division in Maharashtra, India, over the possibility of homeopaths being allowed to practice and prescribe conventional medicine. Reporter Chhavi Sachdev explains why doctors on both sides are striking. In the UK, eight babies made with the combined genetic material of three people have been born without the hereditary mitochondrial disease. We explore the implications of this breakthrough. Sex at birth might not be as random as we once thought; a new study found that families with three children of the same sex are more likely to have another child of the same sex. Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Hannah Robins Assistant Producer: Alice McKee Studio Managers: Dyfan Rose and Andrew Garrett
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单集文稿 ...

  • Hello, this is Health Check from the BBC.

  • I'm Claudia Hammond here for the next half an hour with the latest news from the world of health and medicine.

  • In a moment,

  • do some people have a label on their medical notes saying they're allergic to the antibiotic penicillin when they might not be?

  • And what impact could this have on antimicrobial resistance worldwide?

  • And to help me today, I have Dr. Graham Easton,

  • who's Professor of Clinical Communication Skills at Queen Mary University of London.

  • How are you?

  • Very well, thank you.

  • Well, you've got some good news for this week, which is something we always like.

  • What's that?

  • Yes,

  • really positive news from Burundi and Senegal in the fight to eliminate the world's leading infectious cause of blindness,

  • trachoma.

  • And there's a new study I want to ask you about too later on, Graham.

  • If you're expecting a baby,

  • you'll probably know there's roughly a 50-50 chance of having a boy or a girl, right?

  • Wrong.

  • New research has found if you already have three boys or three girls and you have a fourth child,

  • they're more likely to be the same sex as the first three.