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@dresmerelda

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

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@dresmerelda

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  • Infectious Diseases/Micro & Global Health
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As of 2015 there were 101,200 people living with HIV in the UK. Our clinics can involve supporting some of these folk through pregnancy👩🏻‍⚕️ • With the right meds and monitoring, the risk of vertical transmission (mother to baby) of the HIV virus can be very low 👩‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👦‍👦👨‍👨‍👧👩‍👦‍👦 • The key is to monitor, plan and normalise the experience for expectant parents. This includes: 👶 Regular checkups and bloods monitoring • 👶 Considered advice about the risks and benefits of breast feeding/vaginal delivery • 👶 Planning for the follow up and prophylactic treatment of the baby • 👶 Sharing care with the Obs & Gynae and Paeds teams • If you are living with HIV and thinking about getting pregnant, please talk to your team. It’s great to be able to support families this way in my job. And at the end of it all, we get to meet the new family members too. 👶🏿👶🏾👶🏽👶🏼👶🏻😁 • • • • • #hiv #globalhealth #maternity #obgyn #babies #science #evidencebasedpractice #medicine #doctorslife #scicomm #wearescience #empoweringwomen #womensrights #strongertogether #scrubs #stethoscope #medstudent #nursing #midwifery #premed #doctorsofinstagram #scientistwhoselfie #stillascientist #planning
“I just want to be at home for at least a couple of weeks before....well I just want to get things sorted.” 💕 • The gentleman in his 90s saying these words was being discharged home after a nasty chest infection. He was fitter, even after this episode, than many of the patients >50yrs his junior on the ward. He was fairly happy and totally independent. But he was convinced his time was nearly up. I have little doubt when elderly patients tell me in matter-of-fact tones that they’re preparing to pass on, that they often kind of ‘know.’ But I was intrigued if there was evidence to back it up. 🤔 • The answer is yes, kind of. One research group looked retrospectively at data from the 16year long Berlin Aging Study, comparing successive years’ questionnaire responses to the question “I have the feeling that my time is running out” with the final recorded date of death. Respondents that felt close to death at baseline questioning had a statistically significant higher risk of dying than those that didn’t feel close to death (median survival 3.63 years compared with 6.06years). Only around 3% were alive 16years later compared with 16% of those that did not feel close to death at baseline. Importantly though, this feeling didn’t increase exponentially the closer a person was to their eventual death date. 👩🏻‍⚕️ • Obviously many things can impact on a person’s feeling of mortality- those patients with very high burdens of illness are unlikely to think they’re going to be around forever! But other papers discuss how combining data on mortality risk factors with subjective reports of feeling close to death can predict outcomes in the elderly. And make no mistake- this can (unfortunately) be important in businesses such as life insurance... 😕 • As for my lovely patient, he’s still going more than two weeks later. But I’m sure he’s also been getting his affairs in order ❤️ • #scicomm #wearescience #clinician #research #researchlife #holisticcare #microbiology #infectiousdisease #infection #evidencebased #patientcare #interesting #doctorsofinstagram #doctorslife #honesty #palliativecare #alwayslearning #flowers #girlboss #planning #motivationmonday #mondaythoughts #skull
Thought I’d do a re-intro and try it out in video format. Excuse the slight cheese and deliberate errors, feedback much appreciated 🤦🏻‍♀️😂 I’m hoping to do more video teaching in the future- whaddya think? Meanwhile check out my blog as I’m at two conferences this week! 🤘🤘💩👩🏻‍⚕️👩🏻‍🔬
“You get the microbiome you deserve.” 🎤 drop 💩 • How much have you heard about “the microbiome”? Most people use this term to mean the community of microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, viruses etc) that naturally live in the gut; actually, we have different communities on our skin, in our throats and even in our urine, which was traditionally thought to be “sterile.” These communities are increasingly being shown to be important in not only keeping us healthy, but explaining some of our diseases too! 👩🏻‍⚕️ • Several studies have also shown that changes in our gut microbiome can affect how we put on and lose weight, our risk of diabetes and asthma, our mental health and even our risk of cancers. But it is worth noting that there are lots of contradictory results out there too. Why might that be? 🤔 • Well, at the moment, we don’t know what our microbiomes “should” be. It is becoming ever more likely that we each have our own unique microbiomes and that even these can fluctuate depending on what we eat/what drugs we take etc. Furthermore, we don’t really have a complete picture and different methods (and even different labs!) can get different results. 👩🏻‍🔬 • But watch this space: we’re learning more ALL the time and it is likely that in the future, we will be individualising medicine and “restoring abnormal” microbiomes! 💩 • With that in mind, here is a picture of one of my favourite salads- blue cheese and raspberries 😋 What are your favourite meals for keeping you and your bugs healthy? 😜👇💩 • • • • • #microbiology #microbiome #science #doctorslife #research #healthyeating #fruit #veggiesalad #saladlover #colourfulplate #foodporn #foodbowl #sunshineinyourtummy #keepfit #dietandexercise #scicomm #wearescience #researchlife
When your nursing team have dope TB masks and dapper personalised bags and you don’t...but at least your hair matches your apron 🤣🤪
‘Nuff said. 💪 • • • • • • • • #doctors #doctorsofinstagram #science #research #hustle #workhard #girlboss #steminist #ladyboss #empowered #medstudent #nurses #pa #md #motivationmonday #achieveyourgoals #successfulwomen #infectiousdiseases #microbiology #stethoscope #whitecoat
What an evening! I swear medical emergencies know when it’s 5pm on a Friday! 😁 All’s well that ends well. How’s your week been? 👍 • This week I have: 👩🏻‍⚕️ * done a general ID clinic * attempted a tough lumbar puncture * booked a conference * updated my portfolio * examined a perforated ear * spotted a foot drop * got a renal biopsy result * done several ward rounds and 3 on-calls * sorted out a rabies exposure issue * seen an acutely unwell patient and assessed their fluid balance * rung out infected bone results * safety-netted an invasive haemophilus * pointed out an infected scrotum over the phone(!) * convinced a surgeon to operate for us(!) * edited a case report * diagnosed seizures * looked at PhD options and brushed up on malaria for World Malaria Day. 👩🏻‍⚕️ • I LOVE the variety in my job. 😍 • • • • • #infectiousdiseases #microbiology #oncall #doctorslife #diagnostics #lovemyjob #tb #vaccines #emergency #medstudent #nurses #pa #globalhealth #travelmedicine #medic #lovemyjob #worldmalariaday #malaria
The reason I can’t eat Udon Noodles: this worm. Head to my highlight for more info! 🤪

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