Swine flu... the novel virus

The novel virus is a completely new virus against which man has not been confronted with and therefore possess no immunity to lessen its effects unlike normal influenza virus. Its ability to mutate and jump species make it more difficult to predict.Production of vaccine against it would take some time and as the virus continues to physically and chemically evolve, the vaccine might not be, ultimately, as effective as expected and this would mean a great commercial risk to the manufacturer and a dire impact on the human population, especially in developing countries.

Person to person transmission of this novel virus is an essential feature of a pandemic which is declared in stages by WHO (world health organisation). More cases are being reported in a number of countries whose citizens had been to North America and possibly had come in contact with the virus.Pandemic level 6 will only be declared by WHO if there are cases in the community among people who are not in contact with people coming from suspected countries. When there is evidence for this sustained person to person transmission in communities ,then the declaration will be made.

The current strain seems to be sensitive to the antivirals, oseltamivir and zanamivir and this influenza A H1N1 also appears milder than the one in 1918 which killed about 50 million, nonetheless, concern has been expressed that the second wave might be more severe as genetic materials of swine, avian and human interact to produce a "stronger nemesis". So the global fear and local prevention frenzy seem justified all around because we are actually dealing with mostly the unknown!

Mother's Day, Sunday 10 May 2009

Sunday is not a relaxing day for me as attention is now focused on housework. Being sedentary for five days a week is not doing any good to my health.I take Saturdays and Sundays as exercise days which actually starts at 6.30am with brisk walking at the nearby park for about 40 minutes. There are usually less walkers compared to other days as the regulars do take a rest on Sundays. I am, by the way, only a weekend regular.

Then the washings and cleaning and dusting, real exercise which I used to let someone else do before and would then be breathless for any incidental physical work I had to do but not now as I have toned my muscles, the heart, the lungs (plus the brain of course, with the crosswords and sudoku) through a variety of exercises for the last few years.

Last Sunday was special though because it was Mother's Day and every mother needs pampering once in a while and to receive a surprise bouquet of lovely flowers really made my day, thank you Tasha. And yes, I was treated to a nice dinner at my favourite hotel, and thanks to Jeff and Mus, just as well I skipped my lunch, otherwise I would be blaming the weighing scale.

H1N1.... (extreme) global fear, (frenzied) local action... true GLOCAL!

Yesterday as I came in to work, I saw a big banner on H1N1 screening being publicly displayed.... and today a nurse, complete with a mask was seen sitting behind a desk, next to the foyer.. waiting to screen patients for H1N1... I could not suppress my smile. If you look at the demography of the people who attend this health facility.. you'd think that this is an over-reaction, or is it a clever strategy to show the citizens that the government is doing something?

Another drastic local action, be it far away, was the quarantine of dozens of symptom-free Mexicans in an hotel in China, triggering a diplomatic row... after SARS who would blame the enigmatic Chinese who, by the way, hid from the world the deadly disease which caught people unprepared and many,as a result, died! At least the Mexicans are transparent. Geographically,a lot more of our countrymen travel to China than to North America! We were justified to be frenzied then.

Regardless of whether an epidemic or a pandemic,for personal safety and as a universal precaution,I would don a mask whenever a patient comes in with coughs especially when dear old TB is making a come back due to multi-drug resistance and high prevalence of HIV.

Frustrating.... but well worth it.....

Knowing your audience before you give a talk or presentation is very important. Finding out who they are, what is their educational status, their preferred language will help you to tailor your presentation to suit their level. This is common sense, I could hear someone sniffing! Yes, so common that I totally disregarded it, much to my chagrin. As I was so used of giving talks to English-savvy professionals, I assumed my next audience to be in a similar orbit.

I spent days preparing the materials, refreshing the basics,reading the latest developments on the subject, talking to the specialists,borrowing and pasting photos on the slides and ended up with 46 slides, perfectly done with Window Vista Microsoft power point. I was in the library and at the club ( for its beautiful, tranquail environment, its air-cond and its WiFi) and mostly because I did not want to be distracted had I been at home, whatmore with our unreliable internet connection! Nevertheless, the night before my presentation, I did not sleep a wink due to last minutes slides refinements.

So much for my hardwork ( which by the way I enjoyed doing), and when the day came, I noticed a few minutes into my presentation, all in English, that most of my audience had a blank look on their faces... yes, your guess is right, they could not really understand English.. I then blabbered slowly in the national language (BM), but it was frustrating to have to explain things like "blurry vision", what do you say in BM? " closed-angle glaucoma".... glaucoma sudut tertutup? Didn't sound right to me..wait till I had to explain the mechanisms of structural damage to the eye giving rise to open-angle glaucoma.. malfunctioning trabecular meshwork, say that in BM.....frustrating I can tell you.

Am I not glad I am not a lecturer? Imagine,preparing materials in English then having to translate them into another language! Despite all the misgivings, the exercise has made me more computer and internet-savvy (thanks to my ex IT officers who guided me through mobile phone!) and having been used to getting things done by other people in the past, I now can hold on my own with no sweat. I am pleasantly surprised that a complete presentation can be accomplished by just having a computer and an internet connection. My past ignorance spoke for itself.

Needless to say, most of the technical materials are in English, so I wonder about those who are not conversant with the language, what are their chances of keeping abreast with the latest? How do we stay competitive in this globalised world if we lack K-workers?

MotiVAtion to ReAD, REad to Be MOtivAtED

The motivation for me to read now is based on the premise that I do not know many things in my life and I want to know them. I want to know what other people go through in their lives, so I read memoirs or biographies. I read about President Obama's quest to discover himself in "Dreams from my father", it was enlightening and now I am reading a book by Clarence Thomas, "My Grandfather's son". Clarence Thomas is the first black to be elevated to the US supreme court.

The heart-rending experiences both men went through, I believe, have made them exceptional men today. I am motivated to go on improving myself, be it in professional or social spheres because my belief in the human spirits is strengthened by such non-fiction.

I also read to keep abreast of the ever dynamic field of my profession. Being a professional, I have to ensure my knowledge and skills are current for the interest of the clients I serve. I am proud of my profession and will not tarnish it by being ignorance of new advancements, I owe it to my clients! So I am motivated to keep reading.

I also read for pleasure, for example, I love short stories and crime novels. I found a free website on best "American short stories". They are beautiful and intriguing stories, short and sweet, you can read each story in 15 minutes! I really enjoy them.

I read blogs as I found them weirdly interesting,blatantly unbelievable, utterly honest, glaringly dishonest, grimly true, sadly told, angrily expressed,truly laughable and totally free! You can only have these feelings through reading My Dear Noor..

I am also able to cook new dishes through reading the recipe blogs... what else motivates me?

Guys, it's springtime at the stockmarket!

Confidence has started to trickle in at the stock market since four to five weeks ago.. time to buy and keep and lock in your profit at a percentage you are ready to accept. Do not miss this.. though I have just bought the government bond (sukkuk) out of sheer fear of a further tumbling and a wee bit late to enter but still enter I will just look at the plantation stocks... all have been rising.

I will also buy BSDREIT to get its regular dividend of more than 7% per annum, just to diversify my portfolios. TM also looks attractive for obvious reasons... time to trot in again.. gingerly? Hope the springtime will last for us to enjoy the summers!

Doctor, I have migraine......

A petite tudung-clad 14-year old girl came in today and when asked what she was suffering from, she said she had migraine. Wow! How clever of her to diagnose her own medical condition. When asked who told her she had migraine, she admitted that she had seen a private practitioner five days ago and was told that she was suffering from migraine.

When asked to describe her symptoms, she said she had frequent headache on one side of the head and usually accompanied by a slight nausea.... obviously the migraine medication had not given relief and her symptoms continued. Yes, a migraine attack can actually last for days and, in this instance, one would have been tempted to treat her as such... but something she said about feeling faint just before the so called headache, appeared to have rung a bell..... Ahah!

Everting her lower eyelids, one would have instantly noticed how pale they were! Blood test ordered based on that observation, showed her haemoglobin (oxygen-carrying red blood cells) to be 8 mg/dl (normal 12 to 14mg/dl)... the poor girl was suffering from anaemia, giving rise to frequent headache!... When probed further, she finally revealed that she often felt tired and weak and was having difficulties concentrating on her studies... Ahah!..

So, when you next visit a doctor, do not tell her/him of other doctor's diagnosis of your medical condition, but just tell her/him about your symptoms.