An Edinburgh GP has joined those asking for better data to be collected on swine flu. In a letter to BMJ (339, p359, August 11). Dr Wilfrid Treasure of the Muirhouse Medical Group says that he struggled to find the latest figure for the percentage of people tested for swine flu who tested positive - it was 13 per cent.

Whilst this gives him some guidance in diagnosis, other data are still unavailable - including the complication rate in different groups, and the effectiveness and toxicity of antivirals.

He concludes, in a passage that will sound familiar to readers of this website: "Currently all of us, public and professionals, are being fed nonsense - that patients know themselves when they have swine flu, that staff on helplines can tell you when you've got flu, that antiviral drugs are essential for this group of another, that general practitioners should use clinical judgement, and so on.

"Only with statistics, including likelihood ratios, can we weigh the probability of having and dying from the disease against the risks and benefits of treatment and advise patients accordingly."