As the COVID-19 pandemic rages in our various cities, it is important to remember that as of today there are no proven effective therapies. Still it is very difficult to watch people die despite your care. With about a thousand lives already lost to SARS-CoV-2 in the United States, everybody is scrambling to find therapeutics […]
Living in Two Different Worlds in the Era of COVID-19
March 1 2020 I’ve been back from my Thailand/Cambodia holiday two weeks now. Opened up my work email to find a number of emails related to my hospital’s preparedness for the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19. Reassuring. Jumped right back into a busy clinical service. Checked my temperature daily and avoided the gym (more so […]
Ebola Madness
The death toll of this year’s Ebola epidemic, the worst in history, has crossed the 4000 mark. Cases are expected to double every three to four weeks in the West African countries most affected. Despite the increased global response to the problem in the wake of two American medics acquiring the infection back in August, […]
Vancomycin – Fools Gold or the Holy Grail?
I’ve meant to write a post about the antibiotic vancomycin for many years. It is an antibiotic that has become a work-horse in so many hospitals. Many patients refer to it as “the powerful stuff”. Included in the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines, the most important medicines needed in a basic health system, it […]
Fungal Meningitis Linked to Epidural Steroid Shots in the News
137 cases, 12 deaths, 10 states and still counting… You don’t have to be an infectious disease expert to be aware of this very alarming outbreak. Public health personnel and infectious disease physicians have been hard at work and have narrowed the source of this multi-state infection to a likely contamination event occurring at New […]