The Aurora team is loving the Spring vibe as we move into April - the hour has gone forward so when we leave the office we can enjoy a stroll home in the light. We are looking forward to shedding our multiple layers of clothing, heavy Winter coats and having a drink outside in a beer garden. We were therefore heartened to read a story in the Daily Express which stated that a couple of alcoholic drinks after work with friends or colleagues are good for the health. Scientists claim light to moderate drinking can reduce the risk of heart disease and strokes. It was a welcome story among the team here.

We have a spring in our step and are looking forward to the Easter break. Aurora wishes you all an enjoyable break with friends, family and an abundance of chocolate treats.

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March saw little movement in the top three spots among the ‘usual suspects'. Cancer again takes the number one position from nutrition and obesity moved back into the top three from last month's fourth place.

However, elsewhere in the chart there was a lot of activity with nine re-entries (the largest number in over a year) and one new entry - salmonella.

Alcohol abuse/legislation moved up the chart from sixth place to fourth place and this was fuelled by a number of different stories throughout the month. The beginning of the month saw the Daily Telegraph and The Independent reporting that Scotland will enter a new age of temperance under radical plans aimed at curbing endemic drinking in a country with some of the worst alcohol abuse rates in the world. Ministers unveiled new plans which will set a minimum price for drinks, based on the number of units they contain, and a ban on promotions such as buy-one-get-one-free offers. If the plans are approved, Scotland will become the first country in Europe to fix a minimum price on alcohol. Later in the month, Sir Liam Donaldson, the country's Chief Medical Officer highlighted the collateral damage caused by alcohol in this country. Papers including The Guardian, The Times, Daily Telegraph and the Evening Standard all covered his comments. Sir Liam wants to see the impact of what he termed ‘passive drinking' recognised and brought under control, as happened with tobacco when the full effects of passive smoking on children began to be appreciated. The story rumbled on with a great deal of associated coverage.

Cervical cancer received a great deal of press attention this month and emerged as one of the chart's nine re-entries. Coverage and interest was inevitably influenced by the sad decline in health and death of Big Brother's Jade Goody. What has become known as the ‘Jade Goody effect' was reported on in every UK newspaper; the ‘effect' being the increase in numbers of women going for cervical smears and crucially, becoming more aware of the disease and the importance of regular screening. The Guardian reported that the Jade Goody effect has also lead to a cancer review for the UK's under-25s. The cancer tsar Mike Richards and Julietta Patnick, director of NHS cancer screening programmes, are to chair an independent advisory committee on cervical screening. Richards said that screening at 25 was in line with international World Health Organization recommendations and supported by leading UK scientists. The health minister who asked for the review, Ann Keen stated: “Cervical screening saves around 4,500 lives every year and we want to ensure that our programme remains in the best interests of young women.” Women in England are screened from the age of 25 but those in Scotland and Wales can have a check up from the age of 20.

Additional cervical cancer coverage reported that the vaccine for the disease, Cervarix, came under scrutiny after it emerged that nearly 1500 ‘adverse reactions' have been reported across Britain. The Daily Telegraph reported that in America, there have been more than 7,000 reports of ‘adverse events' linked to Gardasil, the vaccination of choice there. A Department of Health spokesperson said: “The HPV vaccination programme prevents cervical cancer and will save the lives of up to an estimated 400 women each year. Both HPV vaccines have met the rigourous safety and efficacy standards required for licensing in Europe and elsewhere.”

Diabetes dramatically moved from last month's eighteenth spot to eighth this month. A Diabetes UK study at the beginning of the month was reported in the Sunday Mirror which stated that children with diabetes are at greater risk of developing life-threatening illnesses because of a chronic shortage of specialist nurses. The study found that the average paediatric diabetes nurse now looks after more than 150 children - more than double the recommended ‘safe' case load ratio of one nurse to 70.

The Guardian reported that the growing numbers of children with obesity-related diabetes need more radical help from the NHS if they are to have any chance of a normal, healthy life, according to Dr Julian Shield, consultant paediatrician at the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children and lead author of the paper in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

Additional diabetes-related stories included experts warning that taking regular naps, even once a week, could increase a person's risk of developing diabetes. It was reported in the Daily Mirror that people who enjoy siestas are 26 per cent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who do not. The Daily Telegraph reported that a cure for diabetes has been made possible after scientists discovered a way to regulate blood sugar using the liver. The researchers injected a gene into mice which converted stem cells in the liver to replace those damaged in the pancreas. They discovered that the blood sugar of the mice returned to normal permanently, within a few weeks.

Superbugs resurfaced this month as another re-entry. The good news was reported in the Daily Star that hospital superbugs could be wiped out by a revolutionary new bed sheet fabric made of copper which looks and feels like cotton but kills 99.95 per cent of all known superbugs including C. difficile, E. coli and the virulent norovirus. Later in the month the Sunday Telegraph reported that researchers from Imperial College London found that hospital curtains, bedding and even patients' pyjamas could become weapons in the war against superbugs.

Encouragingly, the Daily Express reported that hospitals are beginning to win the war on MRSA. New figures reveal that the number of patients being struck down by the potentially deadly infection while on the wards has fallen, with cases down seven per cent in a quarter in England.

And finally, some members of the Aurora team were particularly bemused by a story covered in the Daily Telegraph, Daily Express, Daily Mail and Daily Mirror that chocolate should be taxed like alcohol. Dr David Walker, a GP from Airdrie, Lanarkshire, stated that chocolate had become a harmful addiction, leading to obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and back pain, and should be taxed in the same way as alcohol to control Britain's obesity epidemic. He tabled a motion at the BMA's conference in Clybebank. The Aurora team is very partial to a late afternoon chocolate run so the idea of a ‘chocolate tax' caused much debate, particularly at this time of year when we are all surrounded by Easter egg treats!

So, what has been revving up the news in March? Let's take a look at the Aurora rev-counter, which aims to provide a snapshot of what's driving the health news each month:

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Aurora strives to apply quantitative, qualitative and emotional understanding of health issues to client communication programmes. Dove-tailing informed PR activity with the media's appetite enables us to assist clients with communicating their vision.

To find out more, contact Neil Crump or Claire Eldridge on +44 (0) 20 7424 7940.

The top 20 chart provides our interpretative snap-shot of health stories in the national press and is based upon a quantitative process. Analysis based on news from the 26 February 2009 to 25 March 2009.

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