A middle-aged woman from Bangladesh sought treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in Singapore. Her diagnosis was first made in a hospital in Dhaka (the capital of Bangladesh), where she stayed for 10 days prior to her transfer here. She had presented with fever, muscle aches and increasing fatigue, and had received antibiotics for unremitting […]
Just a plug for the Courage Fund Conference, which will be held at the Marina Mandarin Hotel in Singapore from 11th to 13th March this year. The conference website is here. Disclaimer: I am a member of the organising committee. This infectious diseases conference will have renowned speakers from around the world, and is unique in […]
Dr. William Stewart, then Surgeon General of USA, famously said in 1967, “It’s time to close the books on infectious diseases, declare the war against pestilence won, and shift national resources to such chronic problems as cancer and heart disease.” Many, including myself, have used this quote to illustrate the shortsightedness of human nature, even […]
There are a large number of news reports on the flu season in USA currently, including this fairly comprehensive one from CNN, after the statistics for mortality from pneumonia and influenza in the USA crossed 6.8% (the epidemic threshold) on Week 51 of 2014. There have been 15 paediatric deaths to date (as of 20th […]
This is a more “specialised” and technical clinical vignette. An elderly man was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) for acute respiratory distress from pulmonary oedema, and required intubation with mechanical ventilation. He had multiple co-morbid conditions including diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, and ischaemic heart disease (with left ventricular ejection fraction of 35%). Three […]
A new year has begun. What were the major infectious diseases events of the past year? The following two are my personal picks, reflecting on what I have read or experienced in 2014: Ebola outbreak in West Africa. This is the Ebola outbreak that dwarfs all previous outbreaks combined, and is still ongoing in Sierra […]
A year ago, a report was published on Public Health Action (the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease’s open access journal) by members of the Singapore Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (STEP) and Ministry of Health, looking at tuberculosis cases among Singapore residents by ethnicity, notified between 2002 and 2011. There were 15,622 resident cases of […]
A straightforward case for the Christmas week – Merry Christmas and Happy 2015, by the way! This young man returned from Gambia 2 weeks ago, and started having high fever for 5 days prior to seeking medical attention. He had been on a missionary trip, helping to build schools and houses in rural villages in […]
I came across this site via a search on “superbugs” on Google News. The UK review team was commissioned by the UK Prime Minister in July 2014, and published its first report about 2 weeks ago. By the end of 2 years – summer 2016 – the Review will have to propose a package of […]
Some of the local press (courtesy of the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health‘s corporate communications team) picked up an obscure article that we published earlier this year in BMC Public Health, looking at the trend of tuberculosis in Singapore (among residents and non-residents) between 1995 and 2011. Here’s the Today link. Basically, we looked […]
MIPHIDIC 