WHAT are the current and potential problems doctors might be facing in combating the spread of the swine flu? It would be good if every doctor kept a constant and close tab on the H1N1 pandemic, and remained fully aware of the developments and changes, which are evolving daily. Logging on to the internet regularly [...]

PETALING JAYA, 12 June 2009: Don’t blame private doctors for the dengue epidemic, the Federation of Private Medical Practitioners’ Associations Malaysia said today. Its medical affairs committee representative Dr Ng Swee Choon said the disease continued to plague Malaysians because the authorities lacked the political will to enforce eradication measures. (Pic by enimal / sxc.hu) [...]

THERE are epidemics. And then there are conspiracy theories about epidemics, which become endemic in themselves. There has long been a conspiracy theory that HIV is a plot by white people to annihilate black people. This, apparently, is the reason why AIDS is so endemic in Sub-Saharan Africa and in other black-majority countries such as [...]

METAPHORS are more than sound bites. For example, the sea-changing 2008 general election is best represented by the metaphor “tsunami”, first coined by seasoned opposition leader and DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang. Why is tsunami an apt metaphor for 8 March 2008? First, a tsunami sweeps away existing structures and leaves a new landscape behind. [...]

FOR the week of 4 to 10 May 2009, the Chinese press highlighted the possibility of Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek switching camps, the chaotic Perak assembly sitting, and the meningitis outbreak in Malacca. Chua The Nut Graph’s report on 30 April that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) has been trying to court MCA deputy president [...]