Several preceding posts (here, here and here) had described the change in healthcare-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA) clones in the local setting, and either the SGH Diagnostic Bacteriology blog or I (or both) will probably write on community-associated MRSA clones in Singapore in the near future. But from a practical point of view, does it really matter […]
The Singapore General Hospital (SGH) Diagnostic Bacteriology section’s official blog had recently described the change in healthcare-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA) clones in our local hospitals, with a shift from a near-complete monopoly by ST239-MRSA-III to a duopoly between the older clone and ST22-MRSA-IV (or UK-EMRSA-15) within a period of 10 years from 2001 to 2010. I like […]
A major highlight of working on the Singapore MRSA evolution and competition study was obtaining the very old MRSA isolates from the 1980’s and 1990’s. One of the biggest issues in the Singapore clinical microbiology scene – to me – is the loss of historical isolates (and the lack of any attempts to correct this to […]
Two days ago, our paper on the “Evolution dynamics of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in a healthcare system” was published in the BiomedCentral journal Genome Biology. We sequenced the genomes of 260 clinical MRSA isolates cultured over 3 decades (1982 to 2010) in four Singaporean hospitals – a number that seemed really high back in 2011, but […]
Clostridium difficile is an anaerobic Gram-positive rod that can colonise the intestines of humans and other animals. It is related to the bacterium that causes tetanus (Clostridium tetani) as well as the bacterium that causes food poisoning and occasionally gas gangrene (Clostridium perfringens). Like all Clostridia, it can form spores, which it does as a survival response […]
I was directed by the SGH microbiology blog‘s chief blogger to the Straits Times report yesterday detailing the National Environment Agency (NEA)’s tender for studying the effects of using Wolbachia-carrying male mosquitoes to combat dengue in Singapore. But what is Wolbachia? It is a fascinating genus of bacteria that exists solely as a parasitic (or in some cases mutualistic) […]
This is written as a closure (for now) for the previous influenza articles (here and here), which reported on the influenza A(H3N2) epidemic in the U.S.A and the similar high proportion of influenza A(H3N2) among the Singapore influenza isolates that were typed. Various indicators suggest that the epidemic in the U.S.A. is coming to an […]
This rather interesting paper was brought to my notice earlier, but I could only read it today. Published in PLoS ONE this month by Australian authors using European data, Dr. Peter Collignon and his colleagues showed that the “quality of governance” (measured on a scale of 0-6 based on subjective assessment by experts on each country’s […]
Interpretation of syphilis serological results is one of the more common reasons for referrals to infectious disease physicians in Singapore. Back in the restructured hospitals, syphilis serology was usually performed as part of a panel for patients with altered mental status, or occasionally for those with cerebrovascular accidents or peripheral neuropathy (because neurosyphilis may present with such features). […]
The third and final day of the conference was held two days ago on Friday 13th March. Despite all the organisational and logistic hiccups, the conference itself in my opinion (biased as that may be given that I am on the organising committee!) was a resounding success. We were lucky and many things fell into […]
MIPHIDIC 