We – as in the Society of Infectious Diseases (Singapore), or SIDS for short – have just been awarded a small grant by the SG50 Celebration Fund to carry out our project “Overcoming Infectious Diseases in Singapore: Past, Present and Future“. Singapore is a young nation at the crossroads of Asia and consistently faces the […]
A man in his late 50’s presented with generalised lethargy and low-grade fever for 3 days. He had a history of pulmonary tuberculosis 20 years ago, and had completed a 9-month course of therapy. The only other significant history was that of alcoholism and smoking. He was found to be hypotensive at the Emergency Department […]
A middle-aged man (in his fifties) presented with recurrent right upper quadrant abdominal pain for 5 weeks, associated with nausea, night sweats and low-grade fever. His work involved frequent travel to Indonesia, China and parts of Latin America, although mainly confined to the big cities rather than to rural parts of these countries. He had […]
One week after the joint MOH/NEA/AVA statement, the Straits Times reported this morning that sales of “yu sheng” (raw fish) has plunged at porridge stalls, with some stalls opting not to sell the dish entirely, while others have shifted (back) to saltwater fish such as the ikan parang. Even these stalls are likely to have […]
The Singapore Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (STEP) Registry and TB Contact Clinic used to be based out of a charming (but rickety) old colonial-style bungalow along Moulmein Road. After several months, renovations have been completed.
The South Korean government declared that the MERS outbreak in South Korea is over today, following the release of their final MERS-CoV contact from surveillance. 186 cases, 36 deaths (case fatality rate of 19.4%), 69 long days.
As the number of persons with vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) and/or carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) colonisation or prior infection increases – both among locals and foreigners – there will be inevitably more of such colonised/infected persons that will have medical indications for high risk procedures such as organ or stem cell transplantation (HSCT). The issue at hand is […]
Yesterday evening, in a joint statement issued by the Ministry of Health (MOH), Agri-Food &Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) and the National Environment Agency (NEA), the authorities revealed that there had been 238 cases of Streptococcus agalactiae (GBS) bacteraemia between 1st January and 30th June this year, compared to 150 cases per year on average for the […]
It has been slightly over a week since my earlier post on the Streptococcus agalactiae (GBS) outbreak in Singapore. There have been several initial news reports, and the Ministry of Health released a carefully worded message on 13th July stating that they were investigating the outbreak along with the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) and […]
It is now 14 days (one incubation period) since the last confirmed case of MERS in South Korea. Samsung Medical Centre is slated to re-open its doors on 20th July, if no further cases pop up. I believe we have seen the last of the outbreak now (finally!), although the South Korean government is negotiating with […]
MIPHIDIC 