The follow-up debate (and backlash) to the BMJ article that hit the news just over 2 weeks ago would be interesting, I thought. And indeed it was. Out of 31 “Rapid Responses” to the article at BMJ itself at this point in time (almost all by physicians), 15 were against the conclusions of the article […]
It has been 9 days since the Bangladeshi worker who died of diphtheria was hospitalised at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH), so technically we are more or less at the end of one incubation cycle (the usual incubation period for diphtheria is 2-5 days, with a range of up to 10 days). The Ministry of […]
An article published in the venerable British Medical Journal (BMJ) on Wednesday has been picked up by several news agencies. I had described this culture of doctors recommending that “antibiotic courses should be completed” in an earlier post on URTI, and how the doctors I had encountered all felt that failure to finish antibiotics would “result in […]
A shameless self-plug. My colleagues and I – or rather, our institutions – were recently awarded a 4-year Collaborative Centre Grant on antimicrobial resistance. The objective of the centre grants, to quote the National Medical Research Council website, is to provide funding that will allow public healthcare institutions to build core research infrastructure and manpower, which […]
The first entries for the student essays are starting to trickle in, which is great (at least there are entrees now!). The closing date for the essay contest is 30th August 2017 (2359H), and more details are available on the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health website. We would certainly welcome more entrees from […]
We have spent over 15 years in Singapore pushing clinicians – and more recently other health professionals – to become more involved in research, to compete for grants, and to publish academic papers (and file for patents). A little “cottage industry” of clinician-scientists has emerged, with their own chapter within Singapore’s Academy of Medicine. They […]
The second edition of the Commonwealth Science Conference is held in Singapore from 13-16 June, jointly organized by UK’s Royal Society and Singapore’s National Research Foundation. It is attended by over 400 scientists from over 40 states within the Commonwealth, with the majority of the presentations held at the Matrix in Biopolis. There are four […]
Second last plug for our essay and video contest, jointly organised by the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health and Ngee Ann Polytechnic, funded by many generous donors to our Antibiotics Awareness Fund. Details and replies to some queries below: Any original video 3 minutes or shorter, on the above theme. Group participation welcome […]
Certain malaria parasites have the ability to form a dormant liver stage, known as the hypnozoite – from the Greek words “hypnos” (sleep) and “zoon” (animal). In human malaria, some of the Plasmodium vivax and P. ovale sporozoites entering the blood from the bite of an infected Anopheles mosquito will remain behind in the liver as hypnozoites (the others develop into […]
I recently gave a talk on antibiotic prescribing in primary care, and had a great discussion with many of the general practitioners (GPs) who attended the course (on a separate note, it is not at all clear that the best people to talk to GPs about antibiotic prescribing in primary care are hospital-based infectious diseases […]
MIPHIDIC 