An elderly man was knocked down by a taxi while riding on his bicycle. He developed a right subarachnoid hemorrhage and became progressively drowsy, requiring emergent evacuation of the clot and insertion of an external ventricular drain (EVD). He got progressively better in the hospital, and the EVD was removed 12 days later. At that time, […]
A question was raised regarding the prevalence of rapidly-growing mycobacteria (RGM) in Singapore following the previous post. Researchers in several countries have found that the prevalence of infections caused by RGM had been increasing over time, including in UK between 1995-2006, Taiwan between 2000-2008, Queensland (Australia) between 1999-2005, and in Minnesota (USA) between 1980-2009. Other than in […]
Nontuberculous mycobactera (NTM) is a collective term for all Mycobacterium spp. that are not part of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex or Mycobacterium leprae. Virtually all are environmental mycobacteria (rather than the human- and animal-adapted pathogens that cause tuberculosis and leprosy), although they are able to cause human infection in a limited number of situations, i.e. when the human is immunocompromised […]
A middle-aged man with Type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension developed extensive subarachnoid haemorrhage acutely, and underwent a 4-vessel cerebral angiogram during which an anterior communicating artery aneurysm was found and coiled. He recovered gradually with inpatient rehabilitation, and was sent home after 2 weeks of hospitalisation. However, he had developed a cough with mild […]
I had some time to reflect after finishing a rather interesting meeting in Thailand organised by a pharmaceutical company. In their usual way, the company had invited representatives from different countries in the region to obtain perspectives on the issue of antimicrobial resistance – specifically carbapenem resistance and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) – in our countries. Naturally, they […]
A middle-aged man presented with fever and dysuria for 5 days. He worked as a gardener at a large private housing estate, and suffered from both hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus. A CT pelvis was performed, with a representative image shown below. Question: What is the diagnosis and what is the bacterial aetiology? The CT […]
Spent some time at the National Library earlier today looking through the digitised newspaper archives. Here are some screenshots of old tuberculosis news articles that caught my eye:
Measles has been in the news (even in the Straits Times) lately, because of the U.S. outbreak that originated from Disneyland in California. To briefly recap, at least 40 visitors/workers at Disneyland, California were exposed to measles in December last year and have developed the disease. The index case (or cases) has not been identified, […]
This elderly gentleman had pulmonary tuberculosis 40 years ago. He was also a chronic smoker of 60-odd years, smoking at least 10 cigarettes a day. He presented with paroxysmal coughing for 2 days (more than his usual “smoker’s cough”), accompanied initially by rusty, blood-streaked sputum, but developed frank hemoptysis (coughing out bright red blood) in the […]
MIPHIDIC 