I have generally followed the World Economic Forum with interest over the past few years, particularly with regards to infectious diseases topics that feature on the agenda of the great and the good. Their perspectives are often different from the healthcare professionals on the ground, as the focus is primarily on global economics and trade, […]
I have finally had the chance to read the Nature article (behind a pay wall) that has been making waves in the recent news, including the Guardian, Forbes and Bloomberg among others. The authors, who are from academic institutions in the USA (Boston) and Germany (Bonn), as well as a drug discovery company from the UK (Selcia, Ongar, […]
For the week ending 3rd January 2015, influenza activity in the US remained above epidemic levels, defined by the pneumonia and influenza mortality surveillance that was above the epidemic threshold of 6.9% for that week. The laboratory confirmed influenza hospitalisation rates have also gone up in all age groups, alarmingly so for those who are […]
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 […]
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 […]
MIPHIDIC 