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@dresmerelda

ID/Micro Academic Doctor & Smiley-faced lover of purple

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It was a hot morning in Secunderabad, India, when Ronald Ross came to work after a sleepless night, praying that his subject would still be alive. 🤞 • For two painstaking years he had grown, fed and dissected the “brindled and grey type” of mosquito, hoping to prove his mentor Manson’s theory that “mosquitoes carry malaria just as they carry filaria.” He’d discovered six new mosquito parasites, been deployed to various parts of India with the military, written countless poems and received innumerable pep-talks by letter from Manson. Cooped up in his stuffy little hospital office, fan off to avoid blowing away his fragile work, he remembered the illness that struck down his father when Ross was a child, that ravaged millions in the ‘British Empire,’ that he’d treated a multitude of patients for, and that promised him fame if he could just find the proof… 🦟 • Today was different. It was the 21st August 1897. Five days earlier, he’d hatched a “dappled-wing” mosquito. They were larger and brown, with eggs “shaped curiously like ancient boats with raised stern and prow” but he’d not expected to need to find more. He placed 8 of them under a netted bed in which lay Husein Khan, a man known to have “fair to a few” crescents in his blood (malaria). The first 4 mosquitoes were killed immediately for other, related purposes. He killed a further 3 a few days later, 2 of which were unremarkable. On the 20th August 1897, something in that 7th mosquito caught his eye. As he raised his mosquito-bitten arm to his face, placing his eye to his rusty, cracked microscope, he found something that only a man that has looked at thousands of dead mosquitoes would spot- unusual cells in the mosquito’s stomach, scattered with the coal-black granules of malarial pigment. Today, the 21st August, was to prove his theory correct- that by day 5 the parasite would have continued to grow and yesterday truly had been Mosquito Day! His and Grassi’s efforts led to our understanding of this killer disease. Fast-forward to today’s world and in the coming weeks, I go to a lecture by a Professor testing a malaria vaccine. Watch this space… 🙌 • References in comments 👇
I’ve been working on my sleep pattern recently after months of slightly disordered sleep (aiming for a blog post on kinda why tomorrow evening so look out for my stories) 😴 • I am naturally an “owl”, a ‘chronotype’ (ie, are you a morning or evening person or neither?) that apparently may predispose me to increased risk of health issues, mood disturbances and even death! 😱 That’s right, it’s not an urban myth but genuinely a recognised thing. #thestruggleisreal The thing is, it’s a tricky ‘thing’ to overcome. I work and focus better after dark, particularly on difficult tasks, from 8pm till 4am. Obviously, during my day job as a medic, I have to work normal hours but I usually rack up a sleep deficit by week that I have to pay back at the weekend. Give me two days of holiday and I’m generally up until at least 2am and only wake up after 10am. But on safari-type holidays, where I’ve had to fall into getting up and going to bed with the sun, I’ve generally felt much healthier. 🙈 • A recent study by Facer-Childs et al found that other night owls that changed their pattern also felt better. Their measured reaction times and physical strength were also shown to improve. The study was small, and full disclosure, I’ve not read the whole thing yet but it gives me hope that this isn’t a wasted effort for me! 😅 • Any other owls struggle with this, especially when studying? 👇 • Facer-Childs et al. Resetting the late timing of ‘night owls’... doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2019.05.001 📖 • #sleep #nightowl #daylark #evidence #research #blog #blogger #mentalhealth #exercise #medic #physician #phdlife #stayhealthy #acmedsci #lifegoals #infectiondoctor #outofthelab #workwednesday #wednesdaymood
Of course when you’re conducting research or medicine in a different country, you need to be mindful of cultural differences. One thing I hadn’t considered though was that in the part of Nepal we’re planning to work with, there are health beliefs about how much blood is “safe” to be taken from a patient. This means we need to work out what our priority samples are, though we’re aiming to reduce what’s not clinically necessary for the patient. 💉 • Anyone know what the tubes I’m holding here test for? 👇 • #medic #physician #research #blood #culture #globalhealth #doctorslife #phdlife #instascience #instahealth #scicomm #laboratory #academics #stem #microbe #infectiousdiseases #worldview #nepal #workstyle #colourful #girlboss #mindful #healthresearch
Great to hear about India’s work on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and how all their Typhoids remain ceftriaxone sensitive 🙌 • Think of AMR as “biological warfare.” We are constantly fighting with living things that swap each other bits of DNA like “get out of jail free” cards to avoid being killed. One of my fave papers found resistance genes in the gut of Pre-Colombian mummies!! Bugs and most antibiotics live in the environment naturally already- the bugs therefore have a slight advantage from the outset as they’ve been fighting to stay alive for millennia! But careful monitoring and sensible antibiotic choices are important to keep our patients healthy and alive. Every country in the world has a responsibility- we’ve ALL got this 💪 • #microbiologylab #microbiology #antimicrobialresistance #travelgram #scicomm #science #agarart #infection #antibiotics #pretty #colourful #lovemyjob #keepupthegoodfight #patientcare #sepsis #medic #pa #nurses #healthcare #global_village #workingtogether #education #genetics #mondaymotivation #monday
What’s a busy teaching hospital like in India? 🇮🇳 • Like a small city apparently! It was so good to meet with our colleagues about our project. They were SO helpful for our protocol. Their labs were AMAZING and they even took us round to see the wards. Was pleased that I could actually keep up with the medicine too ☺️ • #wanderlust #globalhealth #medicine #infection #globalmedic #medic #womeninmedicine #research #internationalhealth #healthcare #teaching #inthelab #microbes #resistance #antimicrobialstewardship #traveler #tropicalmedicine #womeninresearch #womenempoweringwomen #ladyboss #scicomm #academic #india #friyay
BOOM! I’m in India! Talking Typhoid! 💪 • Anyone know what plate this is or where suspected Typhoid should be worked on in the lab? 👇 • #india #wanderlust #travel #agarart #microbiology #phd #inthelab #microbiology #lovemyjob #newexperiences #alwayslearning #infection #global
New beginnings... 💜 • #phd #globalhealth #womeninmedicine #womeninresearch #girlboss #newstart #thefool #onesandzeros #academic #medscilife #medic #microbelove #vintagestyle #purplehair #travel #wanderlust #keeppositive #happinessisthegoal #lifegoals #mindandbody #lovemyjob #infections #research
I’ve got myself a new job with an incorporated PhD!!!! 🙌😄 • In a project funded by @gatesfoundation we’ll be collecting data from tropical countries with the aim of ultimately creating a rapid diagnostic test to diagnose patients presenting with fevers ?cause 😱 • I’m SO excited, slightly nervous and also a little sad to be leaving my current team and ‘home’ for a bit. But this is SUCH an amazing opportunity and I’ll get to travel, learn bioinformatics and be involved in project management. Whoop whoop!! (To all you coders out there, I may be picking your brains!) 😅 • Wish me luck!!! 💪 • #womeninscience #womeninmedicine #globalhealth #tropicalmedicine #bioinformatics #coding #medicine #infection #infectiousdiseases #research #phd #microbiology #labcoat #vintagestyle #excited #lovemyjob #academia #science #medic #medscilife #newopportunities #wanderlust #travel #instascience #womeninstem #womeninresearch #workwednesday #showyourstethoscope #happydoctors #funtimesahead😎

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