The first half term is down and things are slowly warming up. Already we’ve fallen into what appears to be a similar pattern of background illness levels to last year after very low illness levels at the start of the … Continue reading
All LabLogs by Katie Tomlinson
The learning curve with the ‘flu project
Hi, I’m Declan. I’m a teacher who’s been involved with the ‘flu project from the start. I’m really interested in getting school students involved with current research and learning more about science from inside the process rather than just “How … Continue reading
We’ll be back next term!
On 1st September we’ll be launching Decipher My Data – Flu! for the 2012/13 flu season. Thank you to all the schools who entered data for the 2011/12 season. It was a strange winter, we saw less flu in England … Continue reading
Who was the first ever person to discover flu?
Dr Nigel: I had to look this one up! Lots of people have written that Hippocrates was the first person to describe the flu nearly 2,500 years ago. He was living in Greece at the time and wrote about an … Continue reading
Do we know who was the first person to get the flu?
Dr Rob: Unfortunately we don’t know who the first person to get the flu was as we think flu has been around for hundreds (perhaps thousands) of years and in those days it wasn’t even possible to test whether someone … Continue reading
What is the best way to recover from a flu?
Dr Charlotte: Unfortunately there isn’t really a cure for flu. Though it is not pleasant having symptoms like fever, cough and sore throat, people usually get better by themselves within a week. As flu is caused by a virus, antibiotics … Continue reading
What is the most dangerous disease?
Dr Nigel: This is a really interesting question. The word ‘disease’ covers all aspects of illness, from infections like flu caused by influenza virus to illnesses like arthritis or cancer and even things to do with the brain like epilepsy … Continue reading
How did swine flu start?
Dr Rob: We actually don’t know exactly how it started, however, the first outbreaks were spotted in Mexico and it’s quite likely that there had been ongoing cases for a couple of months by the time it was detected by … Continue reading
How many types of Flu viruses are there?
Dr Rob: There are three main types of flu virus: influenza A, B and C. Influenza A tends to cause the most severe illness in humans and is typically associated with epidemics. Wild birds are the natural host for influenza … Continue reading
Got something to say about the data? Write a LabLog!
There is now a new data analysis tool on the site; XY scatter graphs. These graphs will help you examine whether school absence due to flu is linked to variables, including percentage of pupils on free school meals and average age … Continue reading
Impressions of XY Scatter graph Analysis
I’ve just had an email from the DMD team to let me know that the XY scatter graphs are live and that I could have a play around and give my thoughts. The purpose of the XY scatter graphs is to … Continue reading
How do I deal with holiday weeks?
When it comes to entering data for the holiday weeks please select “Holiday” for the number of half days. That’ll tell our system not to add those figures to any national data.
Different ways to run the flu! project
Teachers can decide for themselves how they want to use Decipher my data! Flu! in their school. We’ve put together some ideas from teachers we’ve been speaking to, on how they will be using the project. Students can also run … Continue reading
What is a Trusted Student?
Trusted Students are given the responsibility of uploading data instead of their teachers. Teachers can nominate students by emailing flu@deciphermydata.org.uk with the student usernames and we’ll upgrade them for you. You might find this really handy if you’re letting some … Continue reading
Impressions of Time Trend Analysis
Hello! After writing about my first impressions of the project in the previous blog, I’ve now been asked to write about how I found starting to use the site. I’ve found the few last bits of data to get my … Continue reading
Should I upload old or just current data?
Both please! Schools should backdate their data to the beginning of the year (05/09/2011). This will be really helpful as it allows us to establish what sort of range that the levels of school illness vary between when there are … Continue reading
How will our data be protected?
Data protection is a very important issue and one that we take very seriously. The data we are collecting from schools, is the weekly absence data on the number of children off sick for each year group. At no point … Continue reading
The known unknowns
In 2002 Donald Rumsfeld (the former United States Secretary of Defense) made a famous speech describing categories for what US intelligence services did and didn’t know about Iraq and it’s supply of weapons of mass destruction. One of Mr Rumsfeld’s categories … Continue reading
Icebergs, outbreaks and Flu
The Flu! project is all about trying to create a new and exciting method of Flu surveillance. When epidemiologists talk about surveillance, they mean the continuous collection, analysis and interpretation of data that be used to prevent and control diseases. … Continue reading
First Impressions
Hello! I’m a teacher from the south of England and I’ll be taking part in Flu! I’ve been asked by the Decipher my Data! team to give my first impressions of the project. I’ve been told I have to post … Continue reading
