Christmas Eve this year brought news of ESPN reporter, Ed Aschoff, dying that day, also his 34th birthday, after being treated for pneumonia. I did not know of him, but soon I was reading his Twitter profile. Earlier in the month he had shared the following: It’s hauntingly sad to read that now. I can […]
No to Measles Parties and No, Breastmilk is Not Enough
I find the thought of measles parties disturbing. Worse is the thought that “we do not need vaccines because our ancestors did just fine without them“. That’s idiotic. I laugh a little to myself in exasperation then I remember it’s not nice to laugh at the ignorant. Of course getting immunity from a disease is […]
Whooping Cough (Pertussis) kills!
Last month, a baby in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania died of pertussis (whooping cough). I suppose death from pertussis (or any other vaccine-preventable illness) is preferable to the speculated possibility of life with autism for vaccine nay-sayers. Thank goodness I’m not a pediatrician because I don’t think I would last long trying to convince parents […]
Isolation Precautions at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital
As a budding infectious diseases specialist I am interested in infection prevention. I am doing a two month rotation at The Fevers Unit at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Ghana. It’s a separate building on the campus where people with HIV/AIDS are taken care of. The focus of my rotation is to get more experience taking care […]