Lad R J Pharmacy

ADHD affects between 2% and 5% of school children and young people Stimulant drugs like Ritalin should be used judiciously in hyperactive children because they can have unpleasant side effects, say experts. Nearly a million ADHD prescriptions were handed out last year in England - a figure that has more than doubled in the last decade, NHS figures show. The Cochrane Group looked at 185 drug trials involving more than 12,000 children or adolescents. Common side effects include

A free HIV home-testing kit has been launched across England as the latest figures show 18,100 people in the UK are unaware they have the infection. The test, which can be ordered online, uses a small droplet of blood that is sent to a laboratory. Public Health England (PHE) is urging more people to check their HIV status. It says four in 10 people in the UK are diagnosed late - meaning treatment may be less effective and the disease can be spread unwittingly. 'Do-it-yourself

Doctors have expressed alarm at a seemingly sharp fall in the number of people having the seasonal flu jab. Tens of thousands of high-risk people in England may be vulnerable to the virus after a 6% fall in immunisations at GP surgeries. The perceived failures of last year's vaccine and warmer seasonal weather than usual may be contributing to the fall, the Royal College of GPs says. However, some people may still be having the jab at their local pharmacy. A new seasonal flu

Young children who have a pet dog in the home are less likely to go on to develop asthma, a large Swedish study has found. Exposure to a dog in the first year of life was linked to a 13% lower risk of asthma in later childhood among the 650,000 children the authors tracked. The findings, in JAMA Pediatrics, support the idea that pets can bolster the immune system and prevent allergy. More evidence is still needed - past studies have found conflicting results. Certainly, for a