An unusual encounter took place yesterday at United Square, Singapore. During a simultaneous chess challenge organised by the Singapore Chess Federation, my old friend and chess rival Terry Toh participated – not as one of the two “simul masters” (he is currently a retired international master or IM) – but as one of the participants against […]
This is the same middle-aged man presented in the previous clinical vignette. He had undergone allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) for underlying B-cell leukemia, with subsequent acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) of the liver. This was complicated 6 months later by RSV pneumonitis as previously described. His recovery was slow and required oxygen support even 3 […]
An unusual post in the Sports pages of the Straits Times today, highlighting the finding of superbugs in the Rio de Janeiro bay where the 2016 Olympics sailing and surfing competitions will be held (unfortunately behind the ST pay wall). It is a remarkable thing to find an article on antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the ST, […]
This middle-aged man had undergone allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) for underlying B-cell leukemia. Six months later, he presented with fever and persistent cough for one day. At the emergency department, he was found to have bilateral rhonci, and was significantly tachypneic and hypoxic, requiring BiPAP ventilation in the intensive care unit (ICU). As a […]
The Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) journal – flagship journal of the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) – has just published online a letter describing the outbreak of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) among patrons of several LAN gaming centers in Singapore in 2012 (COI: I was involved at the laboratory end of investigations and am an […]
After a period of 6-7 years of “rational MRSA control’ targeted towards MRSA containment rather than eradication, many Singaporean public sector hospitals stepped up efforts to reduce their MRSA burden again. While it was clear that the infection control staff from different hospitals were communicating with each other, there was no overall or coordinated strategy among […]
The 50th post on this blog! And perhaps it is fitting to put up this case, which I reviewed as a fairly new trainee in infectious diseases slightly more than a decade ago… This young girl, who had just turned 18, developed upper respiratory tract symptoms and fever 4 days prior to hospitalisation. Her fever […]
I was rather pleased to be referred this blog set up by the microbiologists of the Department of Pathology at Singapore General Hospital. Very beautiful pictures of plates and microscopy images of the bacteria and fungi isolated from their patients!
There’s an interesting perspective article published ahead of print in the Emerging Infectious Diseases journal (a Centers for Disease Prevention and Control journal), reviewing border entry screening for infectious diseases in the modern age. In a previous post, I had mentioned that border entry screening for infectious diseases is not very effective for detecting patients […]
I promised in an earlier post to discuss what I felt was the first major anti-MRSA campaign in Singapore. Although it occurred not too long ago (estimated 1994/5 – 1998/9), there are no easily obtainable records of what transpired, and I only started work right at the tail end of the “campaign” – at that […]
MIPHIDIC 