Experts tell Sharon Ní Chonchúir everything you need to know about the virus and its vaccine.    

A key member of the emergency department task force set up to tackle overcrowding said it has become expert at “measuring the problems, describing the problems, but not resolving them”.

A senior HSE psychiatrist has strongly criticised a Private Members’ Bill currently going through the Oireachtas relating to medicinal cannabis, claiming “at best, it is an example of using an industrial jack-hammer to crack open a peanut and at worst it is a Trojan horse”.

Ten people are diagnosed with HIV every week in this country and HIV Ireland has said the incoming government must take urgent action to address the crisis.

An Irish tropical diseases expert has warned there are “lots of unknowns” about the Zika virus epidemic.

The State’s medicines watchdog has issued a warning about counterfeit cosmetics, revealing that some have been found to contain lead and arsenic.

With nearly two thirds of college students online for over two hours everyday, browsing YouTube, engaging with social media, gambling, and accessing porn — it’s the ideal forum to target their mental health needs, according to a leading sociologist.

Smoking, heart disease, and high blood pressure contribute to dementia but most people still regard the condition as a normal part of aging, a study shows.

Re the recent article in the Irish Examiner, by Niamh Horan, under the heading “We need to start talking about Aids here again”, I found it to be constructive, well-balanced and helpful, as I am certain it was to other readers.

Sunbed operators who sell sunbed use to children are at greater risk of being exposed following the development of new guidelines permitting the use of minors to check who is breaking the law.

A volunteer emergency medical group says a powerful new top-of-the-range, powerful vehicle will help it save more lives in the community.

THE litany of disturbing disclosures about abuse, mismanagement and inappropriate use of sedatives at homes for the intellectually disadvantaged or the old has reached a point that demands decisive, culture-changing action.

Hotlines are being set up in Cork City to contact specially trained personnel who will safely dispose of the increasing number of dirty needles being discarded on the streets by heroin addicts.

Concerns that up to 1,000 children may have been “trafficked” to the US from the Tuam mother and baby home in “a scandal that dwarfs other, more recent issues with the Church and State” were raised by the HSE in 2012.

Heroin addicts, their friends, and immediate relations are to be provided with a series of measures, including an antidote to the Class A drug, in an effort to prevent deaths from overdosing.

Visiting restrictions remain in place at three large hospitals today as efforts continue to contain the latest surge in influenza cases.

All of the acute hospitals in Cork and Kerry have now introduced an electronic referral system for GPs referring patients for public outpatient hospital appointments as part of a HSE national pilot project.

People under the age of 18 will not be allowed to use sunbeds from today.

A review of maternity services in the West triggered in part by the death of Savita Halappanavar has been shelved.

Last year was a record year for organ transplantation with 294 transplants carried out in Irish hospitals.

WHY ask for a cheeseburger when you want a hamburger? Maybe because you know you’re going to stumble over the word ‘hamburger.’

There were 166 newly diagnosed cases of HIV for gay and bisexual men in Ireland in 2012.

Schools should have ready access to local agencies in cases where students have mental health issues they can not deal with, according to new guidelines on mental health and suicide prevention.

The education community has broadly welcomed the first Department of Education guidelines for 20 years on bullying in schools.

The Government’s new national aftercare policy for vulnerable young people leaving state care does not have the resources to be implemented and the Child Care Act is a “hollow guarantee” for this group, child protection experts have warned.

THE head of the country’s ambulance service has urged the people of West Cork not to believe “false and misleading information” which he claimed is being “pumped out by vested interests”.

THE HSE has blamed the recruitment ban for missing today’s deadline for the establishment of a national aero-medical co-ordination centre.

A SYSTEM set up since the Meadhbh McGivern case means the HSE’s National Ambulance Service (NAS) now gets updates twice a day on the availability of emergency aircraft and gets instant alerts if any of those aircraft become unavailable.

PATIENTS and their families are being forced to pay almost €2.6 million in car park fees every year — the equivalent of €7,100 a day — at one of the country’s largest hospitals.

THE Health Service Executive has asked all hospitals to confirm they have no unopened referral letters from GPs seeking treatment for their patients.

THREE landmark maternity hospitals will eventually close as part of a major reconfiguration of Dublin’s maternity services.

Health chiefs and the trade union Impact are expected to hold talks next week over a row about an alleged recruitment freeze.

FOUR weeks is now the average length of time it takes to process cervical smear tests since the Health Service Executive (HSE) started using a laboratory in the United States to clear a backlog earlier this year.

LIKE the expectant mother who fails to meet her due-date, the country’s newest maternity hospital failed to deliver on time.

PARENTS called for greater openness about superbugs in maternity hospitals as Minister for Health Mary Harney admitted full details about infection rates would not be available any time soon.

The Health Service Executive today defended the progress of a €70m package to reduce pressure on Accident & Emergency units.