Infectious diseases, epidemiology, and social networks at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, NUS
Our paper on rates of norovirus disease in the community and presenting to primary care in the UK has just been published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. This is part of a special supplement on norovirus, including a number of articles covering research expenditure on norovirus, norovirus epidemiology, control of hospital outbreaks and new…
When we first decided to join the World Antibiotic Awareness Week (WAAW) launched by the WHO, there were exactly 3 weeks left to prepare. On our list were a journal club, a movie screening, a seminar session, an online quiz, posters, badges, blog posts, three bug costumes, one pill costume, helium balloons and a booth.…
The potential use of penicillin as a medical treatment was only realized years after its discovery. Although known as the ‘miracle drug’ in medicine, it has also proven to have some ‘miraculous’ benefits in the animal husbandry industry. In the early 1940s, food shortage became an increasing concern. With the discovery of penicillin, the livestock…
We now know that the warning that Sir Alexander Fleming gave during his Nobel Laureate speech in 1945, about Mr. and Mrs X’s self-medicating practices contributing to resistance of the bacteria with low dose penicillin, has indeed become a reality. Over the past 70 years, we have created an antibiotic resistance issue that is described…
Before jumping in on the flurry of hashtags, smiley faces, or any ice-bucket challenges that may come from the anticipated excitement of the first World Antibiotic Awareness Week between November 16th and 22nd, we wanted to explore some important facts about antibiotic resistance and why it requires more of our attention. The word “antibiotic” means…
The first World Antibiotic Awareness Week takes place between November 16th and 22nd. To mark the occasion, we have designed two posters. The first is adapted from a poster that is currently being used in the UK’s Antibiotic Guardian campaign. We liked the simple design and bold colours, but wanted to add some key messages for…
Phew, that was an extremely long month of data analysis! In August, our team decided to conduct a randomized controlled trial in one of our ungraduate public health classes. The title of our study was “Healthy Eating Using a Mobile App Among University Students in Singapore”. In order to gather the data that we needed,…
We are currently halfway through the Decade of Vaccines, and what better time to reflect on this than during World Polio Day. This day is celebrated on October 24th each year, to mark the birthday of Jonas Salk, who developed the first polio vaccine in 1952. But this year, it carries a special significance; in…
Recently, I had the privilege of attending an Ethical Review of Biomedical Research short course at the National University of Singapore. It was a brutal four days of discussing difficult case studies that Institutional Review Boards face regularly when reviewing the ethical grounds for biomedical scientific research. It brought up many interesting themes for me,…
This week I have been in Bangkok visiting our virology colleagues at the United States Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences (AFRIMS), with whom we are collaborating on the Flu-Barracks study. AFRIMS Virology has had a presence in Thailand since the 1960s and has a long and distinguished history of medical research, having been…