The name "mal 'aria" (meaning "bad air" in Italian) was first used in English in 1740 by H. Walpole when describing the disease. The term was shortened to "malaria" in the 20th century.

-medicine.net

malaria is considered as the most important tropical parasitic disease as it is responsible for the deaths of an average of more than 2 million people annually. it is an arthropod-borne disease , specifically from a mosquito infected by a microscopic organism, called Plasmodium which infecs red blood cells. symptoms characteristic of malaria include flu-like illness with fever, chills, muscle aches, and headache. cycles of fever occuring every one, two or three days is typical.
it is usually highly endemic in some parts of palawan, mindoro, ifugao, kalinga and agusan. i think the endemicity in other provinces used to be higher in the past and had already decreased since there are lesser breeding grounds for the vector with lesser swampy areas and forests.

ok. before you fall asleep, enough with the boring stuff. according to our professor, a number of residents of taguig were rushed to our institution, just a few weeks back, and they were later confirmed to have malaria. this is alarming since taguig is quite near. it's part of the metro and this places a lot of people at risk, especially those who often hang out in bars and restos in this area. it is in taguig where we find the fort. we all know a lot of us frequently hang out in these places. there is serendra and bonifacio highstreet. imagine, the mosquito can survive the pollution in this city? they reported this immediately to the Dept. of Health. i dunno if these people had a history of travel to endemic areas mentioned above. i guess the do not..oh well.. i hope it's just a minor case or i will really be afraid to go to the fort. :p

Bonifacio Highstreet

trivia: my friends laughed at me when i thought the fort was located at makati.. LOL

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yay!! so what to post? nothing very special. haha! i just got home from our pedia community. the pedia department gave free vaccinations for the babies. too bad it started to rain when we(i, together with my friends) decided to leave early. we rode the pedicab from our community near legarda back to espana.. one-way trip costs about 20 pesos per person! would you believe that??

i dunno if ive been busy or what.. or just plain lazy to update my blog. nothing special as ive said. but then i cant help but be sentimental for this special moment.. haha.. that's the corny me! im just really happy that somehow, i feel at peace these days. this blog had a rough start. i had a bumpy road, but fortunately, things are now running smoothly. time for a new chapter of new and fresher things to cherish..

to the new pages! happy blogoversary and happy medicine week! :)

wala lang!

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what would you do if you were me..?

i was riding the jeep on the way home, this afternoon.. two college girls were seated in front of me.. they were both looking on the road ahead. it just so happened that their red ID laces caught my attention for a while there.. nothing extraordinary..after a minute, a short dark guy with greasy curly hair, entered the jeep and sat beside one of the girls. something was off. there was more space in front but chose to fit himself beside the girl. he had red eyes that kept scanning the other passengers and their belongings. the eyes really scared me. he was wearing an old black shirt, a white handkerchief was tied on his wrist and he had a big , flat, empty-looking brown backpack in front of him. i knew right away..i told myself, that he's up to no good. the action started right after he paid the fare.. he then placed his backpack in front of him, grabbed the handlebar on top of his head with his right hand and hid his left arm behind the backpack.. that's an old style dude!! it was my 3rd time to catch a slasher/pickpocket doing the deed. but it still scared the hell out of me. what if he suddenly declared a hold-up? im telling you.. i was palpitating the whole time! i was looking at the girl and she was unaware of what's happening.. this guy is robbing her and i didn't know what to do. i tried to look around but it was just me and that bastard who knew.. i couldn't bear letting that poor girl become a victim of that crime. i can't stay there and do nothing! what would you do if you were in the same situation??

A. keep silent and pray that your imagination is just fooling you-pretend(?)nothing's happening??

B. you know it's happening but what the heck? as long as it isnt you, why should you bother? at least you're not the victim. that's the girl's problem since she doesnt take good care of her things.

C. try to catch the girl's attention and send her a sign that her bag is being slashed and she might lose her phone, wallet and other valuables

D. call the driver or the attention of other passengers (a guy perhaps) and ask for his/their help

i tried C. i tried to reach and kick the girl's foot but the slasher intercepted and blocked my foot.. really SCARY!! i also tried to make noise but noone noticed. ans so i did letter D. i really can't let evil happen. i always have a choice, right?? can you call that foolishness??? i woke the guy beside me and whispered to him,
"i think that guy slashed the girl's bag and he's trying to steal from her". after hearing what i said, he gave the pickpocket the "stare", the scary look. the exact same moment, the girl called the driver, told him she's getting off the jeep. she stood up and we all saw the new hole in her bag..her wallet peeking.. the pickpocket tried to talk to us and mumbled some words that we didn't understand. after a few seconds, he got off.. i think it was much better if he was caught. he must be stopped. people like him should never be wandering the streets. they deserve to be jailed. they call that a living?? how ironic! they are parasites of society.

oh well.. at least no one got hurt today.. luckily, the girl left her phone at home according to her friend..

Lesson: jeepneys and buses are not safe places to fall asleep in. it's always best to be vigilant and take good care of your belongings when commuting. but don't be paranoid, ok? :)

"Nokia N-45"

funny, i saved this photo the other day. i received this as an email from my classmate clara. N45 is a combination of a nokia phone and a .45 calibre pistol. since there are a lot of robbers and criminals in the streets, this phone would greatly benefit the people and other potential victims of the said crimes. btw, the phone is just for fun, ok? hehe..

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i told you i'll show an example of a heavily highlighted study material.. here is jac's photocopied portion of harrison's internal med latest edition.
(reason why she has to photocopy: we have the older edition which we just bought last year. the latest edition came out this year and we find it impractical to buy another set just for this rheuma/infectious d. module.most of the questions are taken from the latest edition. maybe after a few more years ill consider buying a new set.)

click to enlarge

..and this was only after her first reading. you see, the markings(circles, asterisks, keywords) and shadings tend to increase as the exams go near so this pic i showed you is still benign..

this is one desperate attempt to update this blog. hihi..:D

due to heavy rains, they suspended all classes after 3pm, but it's only after 4 that our class were officially free to go since dr. erasmo, our gen surg prof went on with his lecture from 2 to 4. i think half of the class left already after lunch. hm.. i wish they thought about that before i went to school this noon. my car's coded. i thought taking a cab was a waste of money so i rode the jeepney.. wow! i usually ride the jeep on my way home but it's been a really long time since i rode the jeepney to school. jeepneys are not airconditioned vehicles and so you'd really be exposed to the smoke, heat and dust. this AM was not that hot, besides i was a bit late for the gyne quiz. and so the trip what a bit slower than usual. manong driver almost stopped in every corner and every person he passed. kulang nalang igarahe na nya. when i got off the jeep, it started to rain really hard. it was crazy! yeah i brought my umbrella but it wasnt enough. i still had a long
walk to the building and when i got there, half of my skirt was wet and my socks were dripping. plus the aircon, it felt so cold..! i took my gyne quiz in that state. at first it was difficult to focus but surprisingly, i still did well. i guess i still had luck. lucky me! :)

BLOGOVERSARY update: 13 days to go before my blog anniversary..

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med students have always been viewed by a lot of people (not all though..just some) as serious, competitive, boring, no fun individuals who eat their books for breakfast, lunch and dinner. if they think of us that way, then they are mistaken. we have our great weaknesses as well and in my case..my overpowering, fiercest foe--is SLEEPINESS. is it due to my lack of sleep the night before 'cause of studying(drinking, partying??), did i happen to eat too much during breakfast/lunch(hyperglycemia/soporific) or is it because the lecture got so boring?? i dunno..could be due to any of the above given reasons..fortunately, we got something called coffee. lol. (i'm becoming tolerant though..the instant coffee has no effect on me as far as i'm concerned. i need brewed coffee or kapeng barako instead. anyone from batangas who's reading this blog? :p

lost carlos

oh no! got caught!

another thing you wouldn't miss is that most of us also have this OC trait. it's ok as long as it's just a trait and it doesn't interfere in the normal social and occupational functioning of a person.
med students have this passion for highlighters(check dak's site for proof)-stabilo, staedtler, faber-castell and the like-they are our bestfriends. to some highlighting had become an art resulting to highly colored notes and books wherein everything is highlighted(as in the whole paragraph or the whole page even) ill show you a sample next time. for now, here is my friend james with his bestfriends. i think he needs more or less 5 highlighters at a time everytime he listens to lectures. he makes notes at the same time as well. sipag di ba? :)

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countdown: 20 days to go til my blog turns 1!

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