How often do you wash your towel? Some people wash once a week, while some, once a year. The towel is a fertile breeding ground for millions of microbes, especially those found on human skin and on the gut. No wonder the towel is one of the objects that facilitate fecal-oral contamination (literally connecting the two ends of the gut). Worse still, most people keep towels in the bathroom (near the toilet). Every flush of the toilet sends mist with millions of microbes, ranging from H.pylori, salmonella and other deadly bacteria and viruses. When you wash your hands ready for a meal, and dry them with your body towel, there's high chance you are directly ingesting your fecal matter, or, if in a shared lavatory, someone else's faeces. Unless cleaned well, viruses such as human papillomavirus (causes warts, anal cancer and cervical cancer) can be transmitted when towels are shared with infected individuals. So, what to do? 1. Launder towels once a week. 2. Use hot water and det...
By Bundi Karau Nothing has tested the mettle of many physicians like the covid-19 pandemic. As the crisis lurches on, we are faced with hefty decisions everyday, and some of them take a heavy toll on our resolve and even mental health. Make no mistake, the pandemic is still in full swing, and there are little signs of ebbing of the tide. Further afield, giants like India are reeling under a surge of covid-19 deaths. The world must act and save the world's pharmacy. But three things have tested my mettle the most. Sometimes I count it God's grace that I can still wake up and head to work. Being in the eye of the storm is no easy job. 1. The scarcity of beds Nothing breaks my heart than relatives of a patient who is barely breathing calling me and requesting my help to get them a bed. This time, they are in a casualty somewhere, and the hospital says they can't admit them, there's no space. You call all your contacts, and don't succeed. You call back to tell them you...