In 2010, I was invited to Bangladesh for an event relating to antimicrobial resistance organized by ReACT and the INDEPTH Network. There was a field trip to a village that I vividly recalled. We took a several-hour drive to the village in four wheel drives provided by the icddr,b (formerly International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease […]
One of the major criticisms of scientific publishing is the long delay it takes between writing up the work and eventually getting it out in the public arena, with the fault shared variously between the authors, journal editorial boards, and peer reviewers. In the process, the data and results are usually embargoed. There is an excellent […]
Dr. Kathryn Holt from the University of Melbourne published a very important paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences yesterday, using whole genome sequencing to study the population structure as well as virulence and antimicrobial resistance factors of Klebsiella pneumoniae. A total of 288 isolates from 6 countries (Australia, Indonesia, Laos, Singapore, U.S.A. […]
It is well known that patients with haematological disorders are at high risk for developing infections caused by different fungi. Part of this is due to the inherent immune system defects that develop as a consequence of their haematological disorders, but the greater part of the risk can be attributed to the treatment that they receive […]
The second day of the conference was well attended and went well. It started with an early opening ceremony, graced by the President of the National University of Singapore Prof. Tan Chor Chuan, as well as Mdm. Kay Kuok, who is the chair of the Board of Trustees of the Courage Fund (the main sponsor […]
After close to 5 years, we have finally had our Asia-Pacific epidemiological survey on invasive fungal diseases (IFDs) among patients with haematological disorders accepted for publication in the European journal Clinical Microbiology & Infection (it is unfortunately behind the infamous Elsevier pay wall!). This study was funded by the pharmaceutical giant Merck, Sharpe & Dohme, (MSD) and […]
The idea for this post arose from discussions and tutorials with local ID trainees, all (at least those I have contact with) of whom routinely send patients with community-acquired Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteraemia for eye screening by an ophthalmologist to “exclude endophthalmitis”, and some who apply the same practice even to patients with hospital-acquired Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteraemia. Endogenous endophthalmitis occurs as a result […]
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 […]
MIPHIDIC 