CLINICAL MATTERS February is the month of hearts, and Valentine’s Day means many couples hook up and consummate their relationships. The succeeding weeks post-Valentine’s are typically quite busy for infectious diseases doctors and other physicians who treat sexually transmitted infections...
CLINICAL MATTERS “Hey Doc, I have a cold. Azithromycin is okay, right?” This has got to be one of the most common questions doctors get asked nowadays. Unfortunately, most upper respiratory tract infections are caused by viruses and antibiotics won’t help. That doesn’t stop many people from...
CLINICAL MATTERS The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of hygiene in preventing disease. While masking is very important in preventing Covid-19 transmission, washing your hands continues to be a cornerstone of infection prevention in general. This is especially true for viruses,...
CLINICAL MATTERS The practice of medicine is very different around the world. While there are diseases in common for most countries such as heart attacks, pneumonia, and diabetes, there are some diseases that are more common or even unique to different parts of the world. The kinds of infections in...
CLINICAL MATTERS With the predictable seasonal increase of Covid-19 cases last December, viral fake news was not far behind. Some of the fake items were even recycled ones from past years. And yet people continued to share them without as much as doing a simple fact check. Some of the people who...
CLINICAL MATTERS In my last column I spoke about our visit to the magical blue city of Chefchaouen in the Rif mountains of Morocco where Jewish refugees expelled from Europe were welcomed to settle. From Chefchaouen, our travels next brought us to the eternal city of Fes. Fes, or Fez as it is...
CLINICAL MATTERS It has been nearly four years since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and some people are getting a bit nervous because many people are testing positive for Covid-19 again. The latest Department of Health (DOH) report showed a 50 percent increase in confirmed Covid-19 cases. If we...
CLINICAL MATTERS A couple of weeks ago, a good friend from my infectious diseases fellowship days in the United States sent me a link to a post about an “undiagnosed pneumonia outbreak” in China. She was quite distraught and said she couldn’t handle another pandemic. I looked over the link...
CLINICAL MATTERS Every year on December 1 is World AIDS day, during which people from around the world come together to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS and demonstrate international solidarity against this deadly disease. It has been 40 years since the virus that causes Acquired Immune...
CLINICAL MATTERS Before the arrival of effective vaccines, Covid-19 treatment was the only thing doctors could offer patients who were infected with SARS-CoV-2. At the start of the pandemic, the mortality rate for those in the vulnerable population who developed Covid-19 was 10 percent or more. One...
CLINICAL MATTERS Living in the tropics, most Filipinos are familiar with the two big mosquito borne illnesses—dengue and malaria. But there are many other infectious diseases borne by mosquitoes that infect a significant number of Filipinos every year. These diseases include Chinkungunya,...
GUEST COLUMNIST By MAYOR FRANCIS ZAMORA The barangay is the most basic political unit in the Philippines. Its concept dates back long before the Spaniards came to our country. It originated from the word “balangay”, the traditional boat used by early Filipino settlers who built their...
