On Tuberculosis In-contact

Doc. I brought us to the opposite ward to check on the pneumothorax patient that the 2 groups had their short cases on yesterday. It was a pretty interesting case since the for the past week I was here, all I saw was chest pain, heart attack and pneumonia. Lots of hypertension cases and diabetic patients as well. But from afar, the Marfanoid guy shook his head declining to become the study subject today. Dr. I begged so that he'll let us percuss on the hyper-resonance of his lung, but her effort was in vain.

We walked to another bed where Dr. I just went straight to auscultate from the back. He's a Nepalese, pretty good looking I'd say, since he's got his sideburns and all. He looked meaty, kinda butch. But he doesn't speak much English or Malay. KW answered to Dr. I's call for volunteer and started to perform respiratory system examination.

Once the Nepalese unbuttoned his shirt and expose his chest, the girls got so excited and were whispering "gynaecomastia"! Good Lord! He might look like he has breast, but that definitely are not. Fats maybe. Breasts in men hurts like hell. Not sure how I could counter the retracted nipple, but he still got his axillary hair on. I was pretty speechless when the girls asked if I have similar breast. Wait and see you girls. Just wait and see. Blergh...

Anyways, while KW was examining his chest, and asking him to follow what he said, "ninety nine" "ninety nine"... Suddenly a nurse come over.

Nurse: Doctor, this patient is just diagnosed with TB. This morning only.
Dr. I: Is it? *shocked*
Nurse: Yes. You all need masks. The diagnosis only come out this morning. You didn't check the files?
Dr. I: No. Good Lord! I'm sooo sorry....

And everyone instantly back away. Like... Whooosh. One moment everyone was standing just around the bed, and the next moment everyone stood at least one feet away from him.

We didn't mean to, you know, like... stigmatised any of the TB patients. But it's a really stubborn pneumonia, and to have it, it'll be like wasting 6 months of your life isolated, takind medicine. And who knows if there'll be reccurences in the future...

Anyways, we managed to finish the short case with masks on. There was presence of signs of pleural effusion over the lower right lungs with some fine crepitations on the lower right lungs.

But the thrill of examining him was priceless. He didn't cough much. But after we finished the examination and were discussing about the case at the end of his bed, he spit some saliva into the dustbin next to him. Now that... was intolerable. He's putting everyone at risk. You know how it's like, with TB being airborne and all... He's supposed to be transfered to the isolation cubicle, but so far he's still out in the open ward.

By the end of this medical posting, we should all get tested for TB.