Disclosure of author contributions in scientific publications.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to H Wilde.
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This paper argues for more attention and exposure to humanistic learning in the Thai medical curriculum. Humanistic learning traditionally consists of literature, history and philosophy, and is advantageous for medical education in that it tends to foster sensitivities to feelings, awareness of social traditions, and creating of skills in deliberating complex, ethical issues. These dispositions are necessary for a doctor in the world where there is an ever increasing public demand for communication, accountability and transparency on the part of doctors. It is proposed that the Thai medical curriculum should include more humanistic learning, and that medical students should be given opportunities to interact more with students from other disciplines throughout their studies and later professional life.
Canine rabies remains a public health problem in Thailand and other developing countries. This study of animal bites at the Animal Bite Clinic at the Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute revealed that: (1) The majority of patients were bitten by dogs and the time of the attack was mostly during the day. (2) School-aged children are at the highest risk for animal bites. (3) The most common site of injury are the legs and foot (64.2%), with the second most common site being the hands and fingers (21.2%). (4) Only 48 per cent of patients received rabies vaccine 1-2 days after being exposed. There was considerable delay before the rest received treatment. Solving Thailand' s rabies problem depends on control of canine rabies and educational campaigns. Public education must be an integral part of efforts to decrease the incidence of animal bites and assurance that they are managed properly.
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This is a prospective post marketing study of 4496 patients presenting with severe animal bites in a canine rabies endemic region. They received human rabies immune globulin manufactured from volunteer blood donors at the National Blood Center of the Thai Red Cross Society at Bangkok. All patients also received a full course of tissue culture rabies vaccine. Only three subjects reported an adverse reaction (redness and itching at the immune globulin injection sites). None of the patients died during the subsequent 18 month follow up period.
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The authors present three patients with acalculous cholecystitis seen at a tertiary care center in Bangkok. The first patient was explored surgically because peritonitis was suspected. The two other patients were treated conservatively with antibiotics and supportive care, and they recovered fully. The diagnosis of leptospirosis was confirmed by increasing antibody titers in three patients and by blood culture in one patient. Leptospira were not detected in the surgical specimen. Leptospirosis is a systemic disease that can present with a multitude of symptoms and signs including right upper quadrant pain mimicking cholecystitis. A high level of awareness and appropriate laboratory studies should allow early diagnosis and may prevent unnecessary surgical intervention.
BACKGROUND: Preexposure rabies vaccination is recommended using the full dose intramuscular or less expensive reduced dose intradermal method. The reliability of the reduced dose intradermal preexposure regimen is still controversial. The objective of this study was to determine whether it will mount a predictable accelerated immune response after a simulated rabies exposure. METHOD: One hundred and thirty-eight veterinary students received intradermal or intramuscular preexposure vaccination using a potent batch of purified chick embryo rabies vaccine. They then received booster injections one year later. RESULTS: Subjects who received intradermal rabies preexposure vaccination, using 0.1 mL of a potent tissue culture vaccine on days 0, 7, and 28, had a lower postexposure booster antibody response 1 year later than subjects given the preexposure series intramuscularly. A significant number showed an unsatisfactory early anamnestic response. Residual neutralizing antibodies, 1 year after the intramuscular preexposure series, were also significantly higher in the intramuscular than in the 0.1 mL dose intradermal group. However, all study subjects had antibody titers above the minimum recommended level of 0.5 IU/mL by day 14. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that not all subjects who received an intradermal preexposure vaccine series may be fully protected during the first 5 days after an exposure. Rabies immune globulin, injected into bite wounds and followed by a complete postexposure vaccine series, may be indicated if such a patient experiences a severe rabies exposure.
Rabies remains a worldwide public health problem even though means to control this disease are known. Logistic problems and cultural barriers for effective dog control in many countries and the high cost of human postexposure treatment, account for much of the remaining worldwide human toll. Efforts to make vaccines, with effective and safe tissue or avian culture products and immune globulin, more affordable have been only marginally successful. Second generation rabies vaccines (purified Vero-, chick and duck embryo cell products) are effective, safe and less expensive than human diploid cell rabies vaccine. Reduced dose intradermal postexposure vaccination works, is affordable, and has helped abolish the use of dangerous and poorly immunogenic brain tissue-derived vaccines in Thailand, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. The use of purified equine rabies immune globulin has been found to be safe and cost-effective. It is, unfortunately, in short supply worldwide. Preexposure rabies vaccination for travelers to endemic regions is recommended and should be administered by the intramuscular route whenever possible.
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