Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was first discovered on 2nd October 1960 by Prof Margaret Patricia Jevons at the Public Health Laboratory in Collindale, London, UK. Methicillin (or celbenin as it was also known as then) became available for prescription in 1959, and the conventional narrative has always been that MRSA arose as a consequence of […]
When I started work as a doctor, dengue was not as common as it is today, and it was alarming to watch the platelet counts crash during the course of the infection. Senior hospitalists would routinely leave standing orders for platelet transfusions, usually once the platelet count of the patients had fallen below some arbitrary […]
The mainstream media reported a new “cluster” of Zika cases in Singapore yesterday. This involved a couple living in Hougang who almost certainly were infected by local mosquitoes. NEA/MOH were notified on 27th March and a helpful map of the cluster is provided on the NEA website. In general, perhaps because the clinical disease […]
My second visit to the compound of the Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO), WHO. It has been an interesting three days, finding out the status of the national action plans on antimicrobial resistance of the member states of WPRO, and learning from the participants the challenges faced as well as how they might possibly be […]
Today is World TB Day, and this is the 36th edition since it was first inaugurated on 24th March 1982 by WHO and the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IUATLD). 135 years ago, Robert Koch presented perhaps the most important of his multiple seminal works, “Über Tuberkulose”, to the scientists gathered at the […]
A late middle-aged woman with liver cirrhosis (MELD score 18) from non-alcoholic steatohepatitis presented with fever for 2 days. She was hypotensive at the emergency department, but became normotensive after fluid resuscitation. A CT of the abdomen and pelvis showed left hydronephrosis secondary to a small ureteric stone, with inflammatory changes seen around the kidney. […]
Had great fun listening to medical students (Group 6) from Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine presenting on their Community Health Project (CHP) this morning. Naturally I felt that their project was the most important of all the ones done this year. Their findings on community carriage of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase […]
The World Health Organization (WHO) published its first ever list of drug-resistant bacteria for which new antibiotics are urgently needed 2 days ago. The list is divided into 3 priority categories: “critical”, “high” and “medium”, based on a series of criteria that included (and I quote ad verbatim) “how deadly the infections they cause are; […]
An interesting X-ray. The patient, who is in the later part of the 8th decade of life, but otherwise walking independently at home, had a hip implant following an accident 6 years ago. Had recurrent left hip pain with multiple hospitalisations. Questions: What is the likely diagnosis and how should this elderly patient be managed? [Updated […]
Another piece of work that has taken much effort and a long time to get published (now out in Scientific Reports), but certainly one that expanded my own understanding of how diverse techniques can contribute to our knowledge of infectious diseases. This work – looking at the distribution of reported cases of resident (defined locally […]
MIPHIDIC 